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Google Brazil Exec "Detained" For Refusing YouTube Takedown Order
h00manist writes that, as promised, "The police executed an order to detain Google's top executive in Brazil (Original in Portuguese), Fábio José Silva Coelho. Google refused an order to remove a YouTube video which accused a mayoral candidate of several crimes. Police say he will be released today; Brazilian law for the case allows for a one-year max sentence. Streisand Effect, anyone?"
If your company policy requires you to break local laws, you have two options:
1) break local laws, and go to a local jail.
2) quit your job.
There are, of course, ways of changing the laws and such...but until such time as those happen, the two above options are basically your only options.
It's not like the Brazilian court is trying to hide something with this order that now it will be 10x public, you know?
I don't like most of limitations to free speech, but you know, I also don't like transnationals corporations acting like they are above the law of the (several) countries they operate.
A court order in Brazil gave an order, and google was in contempt, don't like it? change the law or don't operate there.
Hints:
Google works on the internet. The internet works everywhere (Except Iran, apparently).
Google has no datacenters in Brazil.
So Brazil was trying to enforce ITS laws in OTHER countries, something everyone here is quick to condem when the US does it.
Failing to force the US to change its laws, Brazil takes hostages.
Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
It doesn't matter where the datacenter is located (good luck trying to enforce your rigths to your information based on that)
What it does matter, is that google is incorporated (twice apparently) in Brazil
Google Belo Horizonte
Google Brasil Internet LTDA
Av. Bias Fortes
n 382 6th floor, Lourdes
Belo Horizonte
30170-010
Brazil
Phone: +55-31-2128-6800
Fax: +55-31-2128-6801
Google São Paulo
Google Brasil Internet Limitada
Av. Brigadeiro Faria Lima
n 3900 5th floor, Itaim
São Paulo, 04538-132
Brasil
Teléfono: +55-11-3797-1000
Fax: +55-11-3797-1001
http://www.google.com/about/company/facts/locations/
That's not how you do business and this is not a reason for not operating in some country. They earn money in Brazil and they would just lose that revenue by skipping a large economy just because of some silly youtube video. Having a local office helps you receive payments and is a major deal breaker expecially when dealing with corporate customers.
If, during american elections, people posted videos saying Obama is a rapist and favors abortion I'm sure it would be removed.
Really, i'm completely against any kind of censorship and when i read about this the first time i tough it was something abusive. But after looking at some of the videos... they are just a bunch of lies about the guy, with fake "documents" that doesn't exist showing things he didn't do it. Here in Brazil there's a law that says something like this: if you accuse some candidate about anything during election you have do identify yourself. That's to protect people against things like this. Google did not comply with the law, they were asked to remove and done nothing, now they say excuses like they aren't responsible about user content. When it' s major record company thay don't even ask.. google has their legs open to then. Ridiculous position from a company that i have a lot of respect, hope they apologize their attitude.
They don't have a datacenter but they do have a local office and Google is a registred company in Brazil so they either (a) comply with local laws or (b) close the company local office. It really is that simple.
If the US government passes a law that sets price caps, then Gasprom would have to either obey them, or leave the US. What is so strange about that.
And I don't see any kind of a conflict with the statement about Internet not being under the control of any one government. If a government wants to control the Internet inside it's own borders it can certainly try.
Google closed down their China office because of government harassment, what makes you think that they wouldn't do it in Brazil?
Google is known to comply with local law and not display video's that are in violation of several nations laws, when requested to do so by the local authorities. After Thailand blocked youtube, they removed any video that could be insulting to Thailands king Bhumibol, to give an example. Similar actions to remove or at least block content have been taken in several countries after legal and sometimes economical pressure from the country. I'm sure that a next step from Brazil would be to name Google a criminal organization and block all their services for the entire country. It may not be the very next step, but eventually it will get to that point.
The most likely thing that will happens next is that Google will then comply because they can't afford to loose the business if it gets to that. Don't be evil, unless you are losing too much money. My analysiss of Google leaving China is that it wasn't about censorship, they complied to that for quite a while, but about too much effort for the money they were allowed to make by the Chinese government. They were being forced to censor *and* squeezed for the amount of cash they were allowed to pull out of the Chinese economy. The latter made applying the censorship just too much work to be profitable enough.
I was promised a flying car. Where is my flying car?