Orkut Isn't Just Another Pretty Face
Last year, when Google sort of seeped out Orkut, "...an online trusted community Web site designed for friends. The main goal of our service is to make the social life of yourself and your friends more active and stimulating," according to the Web site, which states that the service is "in affiliation with Google," the company probably thought it was doing one of the La-di-dah, let's all be happy, hold hands, and sing Kumbayah things. Well, perhaps it hadn't noticed that the Web tends to make things soil themselves. Rather than eHarmony.com, this week, with nearly 6 million people having passed through the Orkut portal, some now congregate at in communities that advance a hatred for Jews, blacks or gays, including a "Death to the Jews" site and a site called "Death to Blacks." Think of it as the WWW turned KKK.

- By now no one should be surprised that people use the Internet to spread repugnant views about race, religion or sexuality. But what is different about Orkut, online specialists say, is that the hate-filled dialogues are taking place inside a members-only social network site that--at least in theory--strictly forbids this kind of conduct in its user's agreement. For Google, the trouble on Orkut--which is still in beta, or test, form--could easily escalate. A prosecutor in Brazil, where the service is especially popular, has already initiated an investigation into some of the more virulent Orkut sites.