New Privacy Control in ORKUT - Statement by GOOGLE

[Kalyan]

Orkut beefs up privacy control features

Popular social networking site Orkut, which turned four on Thursday, has introduced new privacy control features in the past few months to make the site more secure for its users.

"To help you manage the content you post on the site, and what you share with whom and when, we recently launched some new privacy controls that let you restrict who gets to see your photos, videos, testimonials and scraps," Google said in a statement to its users today.


The new features will help the users make a selection from various options available and they can restrict access of the unwanted visitors on their personal home page.

Orkut, a social networking and discussion site operated by Google, also added features like a larger album space where one can upload large number of pictures. Although, the facility was available earlier but in a restricted form.

"So go on, be social and be as private as you wish!," Google added in the statement.

[Sudhakar]

Hi Acumen's now a Days, Community site is Safe , Is  It and do You  ... or 

New Delhi: Internet giant Google Inc, which operates social networking site Orkut, said on Tuesday that it has removed a fake profile of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati from the website.

"The fake profiles of Chief Minister Mayawati violated Orkut's policy on impersonation and have been removed," a Google spokesperson said in a statement.

"We take violations of Orkut's policy very seriously as such activities diminish the experience of our users. When we learn about illegal or inappropriate content, we act quickly to remove it," the spokesperson said.

Uttar Pradesh Home Secretary Javed Ahmed said on Tuesday that the government would take strict action against the offenders. The spokesperson said the company has a reporting tool that state police authorities can use to have a direct line of contact to report inappropriate content on Orkut.

"The reporting tool does not affect the way we treat users' data. It only enables a faster, direct communication channel. Authorities will still be required to follow the appropriate legal process," the official said.

Meanwhile, cyber law experts said the government should take steps to prevent misuse of such networking platforms.

"These excesses on social networking sites are not covered under Information Technology Act. Even the proposed amendments to Indian Cyber Law seeks to make a feeble attempt in making the identity thefts as a bailable offence," Pawan Duggal, a cyber law exprt and Supreme Court lawyer, said.

"What is required is stringent deterrent provisions of civil and criminal liability for such crimes," he said. Duggal also said it was technically possible to identify the last computer from where the mysterious content was uploaded by Internet protocol tracking mechanism.