Controversial website Orkut.com Banned in the UAE
With inputs from Gulf News
Dubai, Jul 5: Controversial website Orkut.com has been blocked in the UAE after Gulf News highlighted the concerns of readers that it contains sexually explicit material.
Etisalat banned the site yesterday on the orders of the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA).
Gulf News, UAE's English daily has recently published readers opinion to ban Orkut because they feared people were using the site to find sexual partners.
"After the TRA was contacted by Gulf News, they went into this site and found out that it should be blocked," Quoted Gulf News daily
"Immediately they issued a formal letter to the Internet Service Providers in the UAE to block this site." The letter was sent to Etisalat, the UAE's main Internet Service Provider, by the TRA's Director of Technical Affairs, Mohammad Geyath.
Orkut users each have their own profile and can choose to become a member of particular online communities. While some such communities are innocuous, being related to particular hobbies or schools, there are sex communities, including one called "Dubai Sex" that has more than 2,000 members.
Orkut will not have illegal content - Google Official
RIO DE JANERIO, Jul 5: Google Inc and the Federal Prosecution Office of Brazil's northeast Ceara state have signed an agreement to remove offensive and illegal contents from the social network website Orkut.
The prosecution office will be able to access an exclusive web page that will help it request the removal of contents regarded as offensive or illegal. The service will also allow the entity to preserve any kind of information that can be useful to investigation of illegal activities. Google is committed to fulfilling the office’s demands within a day.
In 2006, the Federal Prosecution Office charged Google with not cooperating with police and refusing to provide information on users' profiles and communities hosted by Orkut, almost forcing the US group to close down its office in Brazil. Google has signed agreements with prosecution offices in several Brazilian states to facilitate the settlement of problems with the judicial system.
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