The Farwest in CyberSpace

Before getting around to my topic, I would like to congratulate Google for having become one of the fastest entries into a dictionary, the venerable Merriam Webster. Google made it as a verb, to google. The first time its use as a verb was noticed was in the New York Post five years ago.

At the same time this news is flattering, it is worrisome to Google, as such news was to Xerox, Coke, Band-Aid, aspirin, and other common words, many now no longer brand-exclusive. Google is my boss, in a way; my blog is housed by Blogger and Blogger is part of the Google Empire.

A year ago I joined a relationship site, orkut.com. It is run by Google.com. It was and is very popular in Brazil. I did read its Terms of Service. I always read TOS, just to know where I stand, just in case. Orkut has over seven million Brazilian members, about 75% of its users, and the average age group is between 20-30 yrs. old. I would venture most are male, as cyberspace in Brazil is definetely more of a male field. In the USA, maybe due to WW II efforts, women have had a growing presence in the world outside the home and pie baking contests.

What has been happening in orkut.com has also been happening in MySpace.com according to sites on the Net. Vandalism, racism, Nazi sympathy, all kinds of silly things kids think they are entitled to display in the name of freedom.

Add to that flooding other members scrapbooks, communities organized to do that or to visit other communities and generate confusion. There is no purpose other than to wreak havoc "because the newbies don't know the Internet and shouldn't be here in the first place."

Very recently the Brazilian government decided to take action regarding injury, infamy and calumny in cyberspace. There are laws in Brazil making it a crime to call African-Brazilians the N-word and many Brazilians feel uncomfortable regarding laws establishing quotas for college admission of ethnic minorities. In the Brazilian system of today, middle-class kids go to private schools during their K-12 years and get into the State and Federal college systems, nearly free and much more prestigious than most private ones.

So Blogland in Brazil is somewhat upset, some old-time nerds, meaning they are 21 or under pimply awkward young men, dispute the right of Jurassic folk, semi-literate in Netland, to be part of orkut.com. They argue and I don't get it that a virtual insult is not an insult.

Google has sent important folk to Brasília to discuss the matter. The federal government, thru the Ministério Público Federal, MPF, wants access
to files of virtual criminals. These kids, with brown soda running down their pants, have deleted communities, created new ones, cry the blues counting with the sympathy of fellow bloggers. What a shame. Google.com says the files are hosted in the USA and therefore, US law doesn't allow Google to surrender them. There was no trouble in complying with the Chinese government requests, was there?

I know what it is like to be ridiculed in cyberspace, actually in orkut.com. It took a looooonnnng time for Google to do something about the situation. However, that was a year ago. This year is different. Cybercrime is getting more than its share of fifteen minutes of fame in Brazil.

If you happen to be a victim of cybercrime, don't sit still. You're not a duck or quail. Look for the TOS of the site you're in and file a complaint. If the cybercrime is more serious, don't hesitate. Call the police. Let's make the Internet a safe place for us and kids to enjoy.



cybercrime
orkut
nerds
newbies
MySpace
Internet Farwest
Brazil
Change in Laws
prejudice
Google