Safernet Brasil

SAO PAULO, Brazil - Federal prosecutors said Google's Brazilian subsidiary has not complied with repeated requests to provide information about users accused of using the company's Orkut social networking service to spread child pornography and hate speech.

Prosecutor Sergio Gardenghi Suiama said Wednesday that while Google (nasdaq: GOOG - news - people ) has eliminated the users from Orkut groups, the company still refuses to release their information so that Brazilian authorities can pursue them.

"In some cases Google has not even preserved the evidence we need to file charges against the pedophiles that use the Internet to spread their ideas," Suiama said.

Microsoft Corp. (nasdaq: MSFT - news - people ) and Yahoo Inc. (nasdaq: YHOO - news - people ) have provided user information in similar cases, Suiama told a news conference.

"We are reviewing the documentation we received today from prosecutors in Sao Paulo and will respond to their requests (Thursday)," Google said in a statement sent by e-mail to The Associated Press late Wednesday. "Google is committed to removing child pornography from Orkut and has been working with the authorities in several states in Brazil ... to deal with this problem through valid legal process."

Alberto Arebalos, director for corporate communications and public affairs in Latin America for Google, said earlier that "Google in no way supports ... or protects pedophiles or any criminal activity in our services."

Suiama added that if a federal judge handling the case determines that Google's Brazilian subsidiary must turn over the information, Google will have to comply or face daily fines and even the closure of the company's Brazilian operations.

"We don't want that to happen, we want to reach an agreement," he said.

It was not clear when the judge would issue the final ruling.

Suiama said Google contends it is bound by U.S. laws that guarantee the freedom of speech, "which is why they have not given us the information we need to go after these who use the Internet to spread racial hatred and neo-Nazi propaganda."

He said "Google's subsidiary should be bound by the laws of Brazil, where spreading any kind of hate is a crime."

Last year Google Inc. appealed a federal judge's order to turn over Orkut users' numeric Internet addresses, which can help identify them. The company argued that the federal civil court did not have the proper authority.

Brazilian prosecutors have been struggling with Google's claims that requests should be handled by Google Inc. in the United States, not its Brazilian affiliate. Both sides have debated whether information stored on computers in the United States should be subject to Brazilian or U.S. law.

The press office of Google's local subsidiary said some 55 percent of the more than 60 million Orkut users worldwide are Brazilian.