Stefanie Olsen at CNET is following the story.

March 17th:

In a letter to prosecutors, Google said its Brazilian unit is not responsible for the content on the service, which has about 8 million users in that South American country. Representatives from Google in the United States did not immediately return an e-mail seeking comment.

March 25th:

Google said Thursday it's talking to Brazilian authorities about closing some communities on its social networking site orkut that promote violence and crime in South America.

Google had reportedly shut down some areas of Orkut, but a representative from the search company said it is waiting for more details from authorities before it takes action. Orkut's terms of service prohibits member content that promotes illegal acts.

Apparently, somebody at Google changed their minds.