Orkut Drug Deals - The Dark Side of Community

[rogerd]

The BBC, in Google site 'used by drug gang' [news.bbc.co.uk], says that ten people were arrested in Brazil after using Google's social networking site and online community, Orkut, to set up drug deals.

In one sense, it has nothing to do with Orkut; it's almost like saying the criminals used Yahoo Mail to communicate. Still, the nature of online communities enables networking and business deals - while usually that's a positive thing, clearly there are some kinds of business deals that aren't good publicity. ;)

In another recent development, Yahoo closed all member-created message boards in their chat community, apparently due to possibly illegal activity in a few.

Most community builders don't encounter anything more illegal than the occasional copyright violation, but the possibility of more serious issues is real.

I'll pose a few questions:
- Have you had to deal with any illegal activity associated with your community?
- Are your Terms of Service specific enough to provide you with some protection if a member engages in illegal activity?
- Are you doing anything else for self-protection?

[mack]

I see that as being a very real danger, and something that a lot of communities may have to deal with at some point or another.

I wonder why they choose Orkut? You would think they would use a lesser known site to keep a low profile. Or maybee they though use a very popular service to stay under the radar and have less of a chance of being noticed with so many members.

Either way it is something community sites need to be aware of.

Mack.