Google to Help Brazil Combat Hate Crimes, Pedophilia

July 2 (Bloomberg) -- Google Inc., the owner of Brazil's most popular social-networking Web site, agreed to store information about some users for a longer time, a bid to help the country's prosecutors fight online hate crimes and pedophilia.

Users of the Orkut social-networking service who are under criminal investigation will have their data stored for six months, with a possible extension of another six months. That compares with a worldwide standard of one month now, Google said. The change gives prosecutors more time to act on the information.

Google follows Facebook Inc. and News Corp.'s MySpace, the top two social-networking sites worldwide, in taking steps to ensure their services aren't linked to criminal behavior. Facebook and MySpace agreed to adopt child-safety standards this year in a deal with U.S. states.

``What is taking place in Brazil will affect Google global operations by adding new tools to fight crimes against children,'' Alexandre Hohagen, the head of Google's Brazilian unit, told reporters today in Sao Paulo.

The company also formed a partnership with SaferNet, a nongovernmental organization that fights human-rights crimes on the Internet. The group will monitor Orkut, spot possible criminal behavior and request that data be stored for future investigation.

Thousands of Communities

Brazilian prosecutors asked Google to disclose private information on 21,000 Orkut communities suspected of perpetrating child crimes, Hohagen said. The communities are subgroups of Orkut users, typically formed around a common interest.

Every day SaferNet sends Google alerts of about 500 communities that may be promoting hate crimes or child abuse. About 45 percent of Orkut's 60 million users live in Brazil.

The Google accord with the Brazilian government stemmed from a 2006 civil lawsuit in the state of Sao Paulo against the company's local unit. The division failed to comply with requests to provide data on people suspected of using Orkut to commit crimes, prosecutors said. They showed photos on Orkut personal pages depicting child abuse and black people being assaulted.

The company's Brazilian unit failed to turn over information on users under investigation for distributing pornographic and racist material, federal prosecutors said last year. In September, Google's local division became the company's legal representative in talks with prosecutors.

Google fell $7.69 to $527.04 in Nasdaq Stock Market trading. The shares have dropped 24 percent this year.

Facebook and MySpace are working to identify and remove inappropriate content and to warn users under 18 of adult predators. The Web sites faced pressure from U.S. regulators for not doing enough to police their sites and shield minors.