May 17, 2006 4:09 PM PDT
Google faces criminal investigation in Brazil, report says
The Attorney General in Brazil is seeking a criminal investigation into allegations that child pornography is distributed on Google's Orkut social network site, according to a report from Bloomberg on Wednesday.
Lawyers for the government say Google failed to comply with a court order to hand over information as to where particular material comes from, the report said.
In a letter to prosecutors, Google said its Brazilian unit is not responsible for the content on the service, which has about 8 million users in that South American country. Representatives from Google in the United States did not immediately return an e-mail seeking comment.
Elinor Mills covers Internet security and privacy. She joined CNET News in 2005 after working as a foreign correspondent for Reuters in Portugal and writing for The Industry Standard, the IDG News Service, and the Associated Press. E-mail Elinor. 
