For safe management of Orkut .com in India
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For the Kind attention of Google and Orkut authorities
for safe management of Orkut .com in India
This is an open letter from Centre for Cyber Victim Counselling, India (http://www.cybervictims.edu.tf) sent to the Google and orkut authorities on the interest of the Indian users of Orkut.com. It is unfortunate that even though Orkut is one of the top most preferred social networking sites in India, it fails to keep up with its own security and removal procedures when it comes to fake profiles especially of women, which are impersonated, created for defaming the particular person and carries sexually explicit images and contents not only about the victim but also about others. In certain cases, it has been seen that the targeted person in the fake profile never has any account with Orkut. In other words, Orkut gives a wide chance to misuse the site by people who wants to harass innocent victims. We would like to remind that in the policy section, Orkut clearly states certain strict words, which are as follows:
Policy: Orkut Community Standards
The following Community Standards are the shared values of the orkut.com community. orkut.com is a place where users can express their own beliefs and values, and our Community Standards help foster a positive environment in which to do so. These standards are a living document that apply to all orkut content, found in both profiles and communities, and will change based on the needs of the broad community and the available tools, so we encourage you to review them frequently.
We take the orkut.com Community Standards seriously and ask you to respect them. As orkut.com members, you have certain responsibilities to yourselves and to each other.
Reporting abuse
If you believe that someone is violating these community standards, use the Report Abuse button on either the community or profile page. If you click Report Abuse, we'll review your report and take action if appropriate. Not all reports result in removal.
Note that if you are using the new orkut you have to click actions and then select report abuse from the dropdown menu.
While we encourage users to take full advantage of their profiles and communities on orkut.com to share ideas freely with one another, we have limitations on certain content and behavior. Click the links below to read about the restrictions users are subject to. Violation of any of these restrictions may result in the suspension or termination of a profile or community.
Nudity or Sexually Explicit Material
Malicious content
Violent behavior
Hate speech
Age
Impersonation
Private and Confidential Information
Copyright
Illegal Activities
Spam, Malware, and Phishing
Lets check the few criterions to remove any Profile:
Nudity or Sexually Explicit Material
We don't allow nudity, graphic sex acts, or sexually explicit material. We also don't allow content that drives traffic to commercial pornography sites or that promotes pedophilia, incest, or bestiality. Google has a zero-tolerance policy against child pornography. If we become aware of child pornography, the content will be removed and we will report it and its owners to the appropriate authorities.
Malicious content
We do not allow text whose sole purpose is to injure and damage someone's reputation by making malicious personal attacks without any political, professional or social commentary
Or for instance ,
Impersonation
We don't allow impersonation of others or other behavior that is misleading or intended to be misleading.
And also
Private and Confidential Information
We don't allow unauthorized publishing of people's private and confidential information, such as credit card numbers, national identification numbers, passport numbers, driver's and other license numbers, or any other information that is not publicly accessible. To protect your own privacy and your confidential information, be careful not to share any private or confidential information with others.
But in reality, none of the above is seriously used to remove the profiles which are carrying nudity or sexually explicit contents, impersonations, defaming contents or even publishing private and confidential informations of innocent individuals without the legal permission of the particular person. Whenever any victim uses report abuse button in the Orkut, he / she gets an immediate reply from Orkut authorities, which is as follows:
Based on our review and consideration of Orkut's terms of service, we understand that this content does not currently break any policies on Orkut. If you believe that a mistake has been made, please re-submit your complaint with additional information to help our support team better understand your concerns with this content.
For further information regarding our policies on Orkut, please refer to link below.
http://help.orkut.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=16198&hl=en-US&p=email.
When a victim wants to report abuse of any fake, impersonating or defamatory profile, for which he/ she is extremely disturbed, do you think this reply is enough? Majority of the victims who have used the report abuse option repeatedly have received the same repeated answer, which only adds burn to the injury. We would like to remind you that as per the Indian Information Technology Act, 2008 any electronic content containing such nude, impersonating, defaming matters, is considered as illegal. Orkut is having second largest population from India, after Brazil. Is this the way to respect Orkuts own policies as well as Indian laws and Indian social values? Why doesnt Orkut authorities, as well as Google, look into these fake profiles or communities which are created to generate hate and defamation of the particular victim (be it male or female) seriously? Why due to the coldness of Orkut to its own commitments innocent individuals should suffer?
We want a beautiful and safe virtual life. We have every right to live with dignity in the cyber space. It is your responsibility to make us feel safe by taking timely action. Please do not show nonchalance to innocent victims cry. We, on behalf of Indian users, urge you to take strong steps to remove such profiles and communities which are made to demean and defame innocent men and women.
Make cyber space a breathing space, not a hell.
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