A Brazilian judge has ordered the local office of web search company Google to disclose the data of users of Google"s social networking site Orkut accused of crimes like racism or child pornography.
Late Thursday, federal judge Jose Lunardelli ruled that Google be given 15 days to disclose the information, including the IP addresses, which can uniquely identify a specific computer on a network.
The judge set a daily fine of 50,000 reais ($23,255) for each individual case if Google refuses to reveal the data.
Google officials in Brazil have said all clients" data is stored on a server in the United States and is subject to U.S. laws, which makes it impossible for them to reveal the data in Brazil. They also said the local affiliate only deals in marketing and sales and has nothing to do with Orkut.