Stolen Orkut Forums, And Ways To Get Them Back

Note: Thanks to Ajay Choudhary for reminding me to post this.



So lets say you started a forum on Orkut, and to your surprise, many people are not only joining your community, but inviting their friends as well. Your forum blossoms into the thousands, which you continue to monitor and promote.

Then one day to your horror, you discover that somehow someone else has taken over your forum. What do you do?

There are two methods that of securing your Orkut forum (actually there are three but the third involves hacking which I WILL NOT discuss here, so don't ask). I have witnessed others using both of these, and I suggest users give them a try to see whether or not they are effective.

<-----------------Method One----------------->

Since everyone loves stories (at least I do which is why I like movies) I'll retell this event that I saw online. Note: Names have been changed in order to protect the innocent guilty those involved.

<---Story Time!--->

A girl names Shekut started a community called The Fun Forum (not its real name, but you get the idea). Shekut ran the forum for awhile, but the community grew too large for her to manage.

She then passed on Admin powers to Hekut, who took over The Fun Forum, while Shekut retreated back to the real world as Orkut was taking up way too much time.

Later on when Shekut returned to her community, she discovered it in the hands of Hackut. Now Hackut had through "brute force" acquired the forum from Hekut, claiming he was saving it from deletion by Hekut.

Hekut disagreed and claimed that Hackut was a liar (as well as a loser) and decided with the help of several friends to use their hacking powers to reclaim the forum by force. Unfortunately Google was in another round of purging hackers from Orkut, and Hekut and his gang were booted from the system.

Shekut and other members of the forum were upset about this, and tried to appeal to Google for help. Unfortunately since Shekut originally gave the forum away to Hekut (who was now banned), Hackut's authority of the forum ran unchallenged.

Darkut (that would be me) was contacted regarding this situation, but since Darkut did not work for Google, there was nothing Darkut could do legally.

Shekut then began to contact members of The Fun Forum to petition Hackut to return the forum back to Shekut. Members contacted Hackut through his scrapbook, his email and within the forum and (to my surprise) Hackut decided to give back the forum to Shekut, resulting in much celebration within The Fun Forum.

<-----------------End of Method One----------------->

As you saw in the above example, you can sometimes reason with the person who took over the forum to return the community back. In this case, that was the only alternative Shekut had, although others have used it to retrieve stolen forums, and it the person has a kind heart this method doesn't take too long.

But lets say the person who stole the forum is Jerkut, instead of Hackut, and he doesn't care for whatever particular reason. Here is a second (and faster) way of getting your forum back.

<-----------------Method Two----------------->

If your community has been hacked, and the person who dethroned you is unwilling to give it back, here are some necessary steps that should help speed up the process of reclaiming your forum.

1. Contact Google: You need to alert Google about this situation, by contacting them over here.
   
   Make sure you include as much information as possible, such as the date you started (or began administrating) the forum, the date you think it was stolen from you, and what the forum description was about.



2. Contact Forum Members: Send them an email asking them to report the illegal take over as well (with the same amount of detail mentioned above).
   
   DO NOT scrap all of your friends regarding this (as that would alert the thief) and do not ask your Orkut friends to report this on your behalf, unless they are members of the forum (as Google is more likely to believe a member than an outsider).



3. Be patient: Google employees (to my knowledge) do not spend all of their time reading trouble tickets. Most engineers (if not all) spend a large portion of their time making their pet projects better, of which the same holds true for Orkut.
   
   The good news is that if you are able to contact a Google employee fairly quickly, they will have the ability to help you out with your problem and understand your dilemma. The bad news is that due to the number of trouble tickets that they receive, you will probably not get a response back unless they need more info.


4. Secure Thy Internet: After getting back your forum (although I would recommend doing this while waiting) you should change your password on your Google account, not to mention delete any cookies, temporary internet files and cache.
   
   Also I would recommend finding a secure browser such as Opera, Firefox or Internet Explorer with security extentions.

According to Orkut Guide, (a Googler on the Orkut Help google group) Google is in the process of setting up a special forum for stolen communities.

Until then, I would recommend the methods above, as they will help "speed up" the process towards you reclaiming your forums.

Note: If anyone else has any other suggestions, feel free to post them below.

Has Google's Orkut Security Been Hacked?

Just when I was about to write a "How to get your forum back if its hacked," post, my inbox and scrapbook have been receiving attention over what seems to be the massive deletion of many forums on Orkut.

This has led many people to suspect that Orkut security has been compromised by a hacker, who seems to have stolen Google Admin powers and is deleting forums (and profiles) at random.

While there are users who have been able to steal forums away from members via hacking, I am having serious doubts as to whether or not Orkut as a whole has been compromised.

Many of the forums that are disappearing seem to be what some consider to be "hate sites." Although in America hate sites are pretty much ignored (and laughed at) by society, some nations seem to have laws against them existing, and go at great lengths to silence them.

Although it is possible that a hacker could have accessed Google's admin controls via internet cookies, a more reasonable explanation seems to be that Google may have given India police "too much authority" and it is quite possible that an officer is abusing their authority online.

(Boing Boing) The Indian Express and other regional media are reporting that Google's social networking service Orkut will cooperate with the Mumbai Police to share IP addresses of users who post "objectionable content" on Orkut. If reports are to be believed, the police need only email a complaint to Orkut, and Orkut will send back the personally identifying data, no questions asked.

The police are said to be targeting a number of "problematic" Orkut posts, including items that criticize various public figures in India, others that glorify Indian mobsters, and "anti-Indian words." The latter probably has to do with a group on Orkut called "I Hate India," which pissed off Indian officials so much, they decided to sue Google over it last October.

This seems very similar to Google's agreement with Brazil, and I suspect that Indian users are facing something similar. Of course, this doesn't mean that a hacker could not have stolen "admin powers" from a Googler (or even an Indian police officer which would be just as bad IMHO) although I think I still need to see more evidence before assuming Google's security on Orkut has been compromised.

Note: If you do have any evidence, please alert Google about this immediately, or if you are uncomfortable with contacting Google (for whatever reason) you can send me a testimonial (which won't be published) and I'll pass on word to Google anonymously.

Orkut Reunites Family After Kidnapping

(Hat Tip: Os Humanos Do Orkut and UnderGoogle)

For Brazilian readers, this info is probably old news, but with all of the negative press about losers creating fake Orkut profiles to humiliate others, it may sometimes be hard to notice the some of the good that happens as a result of Google's forums.

(INFO Online via Google Translation) The Orkut will have a special participation in the decorative clasp of anniversary of Cacilda Mire this year. It was for the site that the family found it, 72 years after having been kidnapped.

The destination of Cacilda moved when its mother, Carmen, suffered an accident and had to be some days hospitalized, Sonia counts to the niece Rossi. Solícitos, the baptism godfathers - a couple without children - had asked for to take account of the girl of two years. But when Carmen left the hospital, them if they had refused to return the goddaughter and they had changed themselves without leaving track. [...]

The years had been transferred until, in passed November, Larissa, one of the granddaughters of Cacilda, found Carlos Mire in the Orkut. The two had started to investigate the origins of the last name with the familiar ones until discovering that they were prime.

One month later, in the week between the Christmas and the New Year, Cacilda came the São Paulo to know the brothers, nephews and nephew-grandsons. It came back toward Rio De Janeiro, where deferred payment, with an album of photos since when he was baby and the promise of a decorative clasp in May, when it will complete 75 years, with all the congregated family.

When social networks reach critical mass in any region of the world, they can often be used to reunite lost friends and relatives (something my family is familiar with via MySpace).

Hopefully either a Google engineer or a marketing rep can find a way to contact this family, as the story would make a great addition to the "Stayin' beautiful on orkut" site.

Beware Of Fake Orkut Site

Rahul of Welcome to the Devils Workshop is warning users of a new fake Orkut site that has sprung up online.

The site goes by the address of Orkuft .com (note: intentionally separated, DO NOT visit address while logged into your Google account) whose purpose seems to be stealing users accounts.

A quick Whois.net search reveals that this hacker may reside in Switzerland although the tech address registers from the US.

I'm in the process of forwarding this to Google, and if you have accidentally clicked on the account from either a scrapbook or forum, contact Orkut immediately and change your Google account password ASAP!

If anyone else comes across any other phishing sites, please let all of us know by either posting it on a weblog or commenting here.

Indian Police: Hacking Orkut Is Too Hard?

It looks like law enforcement in India are having a tough time hacking through Orkut in order to find the real identities of terrorists and criminals. Is it me or does this strike you as a bit...ironic?

(Indiatimes Infotech) Indian security agencies are having a tough time in catching criminals and terrorists who are members of Google-owned Gmail or Orkut sites.

According to security officials, since Google servers are based in US and their IP addresses are masked, it takes a long time to get the real IP addresses and log details of culprits. Moreover, Google demands a judicial order to process the request which further delays the arrest of the accused, who may even have fled by then.

You would think that they would realize Google (probably) hires the best hackers around the world. Although I wonder if anyone inside Orkut would be willing to offer their services to the cops for a small fee?

Is Google Really Funding Terrorists?

It seems so. According to the Search Engine Journal, which only reports the truth, especially on Wednesdays (and Loren Baker posted this yesterday on Wednesday). Here is what they had to say:

(Search Engine Journal) The specific Google properties which are serving these ads are housed on the Google Orkut social network. Orkut groups which were serving these Google Ads were set up by Hezbollah, Iraqi insurgent and other terror oriented groups.

I took it upon myself to perform some searches within the Orkut network and came across multiple Hezbollah and Al Qaeda groups, associated forums and member profiles which are serving Google AdWords contextual advertisements. [...]

Sure the argument can be put together that Google is not responsible for the content which is created by members of their Orkut community, which lets registered users set up their own forums, blogs, and groups to connect different users over the Google network.

I am shocked, I tell you shocked! Ionut, over at Google Operating System has vowed to never blog about Google again. But why should he?

After all Google is responsible for so many evil things, I can't post them here because they will delete my Ad Sense account.

Is this the end for Inside Orkut?

Disclaimer: I am totally joking, and no Google is not funding terror according to the Search Engine Journal. Matt Cutts (from Google) has already debunked this both in the comment section as well as on Digg.

I actually found this story to be quite funny...until people started taking it seriously. Ah well, we are all human and we all make mistakes...at least I do.

Google Wants You To Keep Orkut Clean

Google is responding back to the negative criticism that it has received from the press, and at the same time is asking users to help keep Orkut clean.

(Keep Orkut Beautiful) We love orkut just as much as you do, and we want to keep it fun and clean -- or, as we like to call it, beautiful. Some of the attention orkut has received in the Brazilian media recently has given the impression that our community is rife with illegal activity and discontented users.

Any active orkut user realizes that this characterization is simply false, that our site's very success has always been driven by our members' ability to create the engaging content and communities which comprise the bulk of orkut's population and content. In fact, orkut's top 50 communities, with more than 37 million total members and nearly 1.3 million daily visitors, have no illegal content whatsoever.

Google also seems to be cooperating with law enforcement more closely, which may be why the number of black market Orkut sites that I come across has been decreasing recently.

This may be because more users are reporting these groups (I have, at least with child predators) or perhaps because the American Feds are becoming more aggressive within social networking circles.

On interesting note is that Google admits that the number of Orkut membership is above 37 million with the top 50 forums. I wonder how many people Google really has on Orkut?

Update: Forgot to add this link about Google wanting your help in keeping Orkut clean.

Arrested For Fake Orkut Profile?

It was not for creating the profile, but rather what was on the profile itself.

Save yourself n save others has a photo from the Mumbai Mirror, although a search on their site does not pull up the story.

However, a quick Google search was able to reveal the full story online.

(Moneycontrol India) Youth misuses classmate's profile, posts lewd scraps

He is caught following the girl's complaint

A Bachelor of Management Studies (BMS) student of Thane was arrested on Thursday for creating a classmate's profile and uploading her picture with offensive messages on an online community site without her permission.

The cyber cell of the Thane police got into the act following a complaint by a girl that someone had created her profile on Orkut.com with her picture and posted lewd messages. Within 48 hours the culprit was nabbed.

The police seemed to have a difficult time locating the culprit as the Orkut server was located in Sweden (really?) Thanks to Yahoo!, they were able to track down the culprit's yahoo address and via IP locate his exact location within India.

Moral of the story: Don't harass girls on Orkut, and don't use Yahoo! if you do (although Google may report you as well).

Update: Fixed some grammer issues.

Phishing For Google Accounts

Yeah, more people finding ways to exploit Google! (note the sarcasm).

Over in IT World, Basav gives the details.

Learn to crack into orkut accounts, this is serious and worked fine for me, just login, take the control panel, and click show passwords, then goto ur friends profile, it shows the password, the recent visitors(full list), etc...If u select the red button(ignore me from this) it will make sure no one else using this site will see your password

http://www.orkuthack.r8.org/

Since Orkut is now requiring users to upgrade to Google accounts, this may not make the search king happy.

I decided to be "risky" and login with my Google account (don't worry, I changed my password after logging into the site). It seems to redirect to a Yahoo site after logging in, thus confirming my suspician that this is a phishing site (basically a cyber thief.

I encourage everyone here to report this to Google, lest an unsuspecting Orkuteer gets taken advantage of by this individual.

Google's Orkut To Brazil: Make Love, Not War

Update: Published on The Blog Herald

(Hat Tip: MichaelZimmer.org)

After being threatened with fines from Brazil, Google has agreed to hand over personal information regarding criminal activities stored on Orkut's servers.

(Washington Post) "What they're asking for is not billions of pages," said Nicole Wong, Google associate general counsel. "In most cases, it's relatively discrete -- small and narrow."

Google released a statement yesterday saying it was complying with the Brazilian court orders following a ruling Thursday by a Brazilian judge that threatened Google with a fine of $23,000 a day for noncompliance.

Orkut, a social networking site designed by one of Google's employee's was facing legal action from Brazil who was furious over Google's apparent refusal to release info that could identify child predators, racists and those promoting homophobia.

For law enforcement officials, this is a victory over cyber crime, but for privacy experts, this is yet another sign that Google is becoming more evil and a continuing trend of major Internet companies giving into "big government."

Keeping Orkut Clean (Sweeping The Mess)

Thanks to everyone who has joined the campaign to keep Orkut clean and for alerting users about forums, profiles, etc. that encourage child predators in their sick behavior as well as those who enjoy promoting violence throughout the forums.

Orkut is Google's most undervalued feature that has (in my honest opinion) the potential to bring in millions of dollars for the company--and I am not talking about via Ad Sense here (I'll cover this in a later post).

Unfortunately Orkut's biggest threat are those using it for "less desirable purposes" and this could threaten not only Google, but the millions who use it for legitimate purposes.

Without further delay, here is a partial list of some content that Google will frown upon. (Note: Titles with an "*" have been partially translated into English.)

___________________________________________
Warning: Some of these forums contain graphic images and are NOT suitable for the viewing public (let alone the sane).
___________________________________________

On the child predator front:

• Exchange of photos, lolitas and teen * (Report as bogus)


• Gayzinhos de 10-18 anos (Report as bogus)


• MSN & WebCam Gay TeeN - BRASIL (Report as bogus)


• Who wants to eat the Dannyzinha * (Report as bogus)


• I WOULD ABSORB THE MIRIM_13ANOS * (Report as bogus)


• There are several other questionable profiles, albums and forums which you can find over here.

On the terrorism front:

• Terrorists deep of yard * (Report as bogus)


• Followers of Osama Bin Laden * (Report as bogus)


• Rede Alkaida Brasil (Report as bogus)


• Al Hamas (Report as bogus)


• Although other forums were mentioned, the ones above advocate violence against others, something Google may want to check out.

There are several other communities also dedicated towards keeping Orkut clean, and I will see if we can all network together to make Orkut a fun place to surf in.

Google already has a system in place to deal with this content, so I would recommend that WE USE IT before contacting the American authorities. Let's keep Orkut clean together...and make Google millions. (=

Note: Above image created by Web 2.0.

Another Orkut Clone In The Works?

They say imitation is the greatest form of flattery.

Whoever said that should talk to a copyright lawyer, who would enlighten them as to why the robed black masters would frown at this activity in the courtroom.

(GetAFreeLancer.com) Kartik786: "I want an exact clone of Orkut. I would like to see demo. I want the script to come with an installer. I'll cancel this project if i'm not satisfied."

Several people have already begun bidding for this project (which ranges between $100 and $30 USD) and the offering ends in about one month.

I guess if you can't beat the competition, then pay someone who can.

Keeping Orkut Clean

(Note: I must thank Leanna and Cacau for bringing this to my attention).

---------A Short Story---------
When I was younger, (many years ago) our neighborhood started to become an ugly place to live. There was a small group of people who for reasons of their own decided to make the place another statistic for urban crime.

My neighbors decided that wouldn't do (since crime can drop the value of your house) and formed a neighborhood watch, reporting incidents to the authorities as they happened. Over time, the criminals either left (or were sent to prison) and the neighborhood became a cool place to live again.

---------Translation---------

Orkut is a great way to connect with friends, business, find a job, or even discover romance.

Unfortunately Orkut is becoming ugly, mainly because drug dealers, child predators, and even terrorists are using its features to network their activities, which is causing unnecessary friction, especially between Brazil and Google.

---------One Solution?---------

Google is already fighting some of these creeps, although they probably lack the staff to monitor the forums constantly like MySpace. One solution is for Orkut's users (that being you) to report the forum/user as bogus to Google, and encourage others to do the same.

I created a forum called Orkut Neighborhood Watch where you can report questionable activity which I'll later highlight here on this site. If the offense involves children, you can contact the CyberTipLine and they will work to hopefully rid the forums of this filth.

---------The End---------

A long wordy post (yeah I know) but hopefully we can help keep Orkut clean, as they are thinking about releasing some new features for all of us to enjoy. Peace.

Update: Google is now keeping Orkut clean. (=

Brazil May Close Google Office Because Of Orkut

The government of Brazil is really getting upset at Google. Orkut, a social networking service created by Google (and "the MySpace" of the region) is attracting various bad elements within the forums, and Google is apparently being uncooperative with Brazilian authorities.

(People's Daily Online) Brazil's Federal Prosecution Service on Monday announced that it would move to close the operation of U.S.-based web group Google in the country.

According to the public entity, Google has not followed court orders, determining the company to cooperate with the investigation on crimes concerning its social-networking service Orkut since June. Google has denied the charges.

Orkut has become a favorite among Brazilians, especially youngsters. However, the Federal Court believes that there are communities and personal profiles on Orkut, who exchange information on drugs and even traffic them.

It is no secret that drug dealers are using Orkut to solicit, communicate and traffic illegal drugs as their are certain forums dedicated towards this type of activity.

Previously the Brazilian government was upset about child predators using the Orkut service, although Google seems to have cooperated somewhat with the authorities in that arena.

Google's main concern seems to be user privacy, although their actions are being perceived by Brazil's government as protecting those who violate their countries laws.

Under Aged Orkut Users?

Orkut is a great site where users can network for business, romance, activities or hobbies--as long as users are 18 years or older.

That restriction apparently is not stopping thousands of youth for signing up onto the forums, as you can see from a quick search below.



Upon reading Google's terms of service, one discovers that Orkut was never intended for the youth.

(Terms of Service) eligibility and registration

You must be 18 years or older to use the orkut.com service. By registering for the orkut.com service, you represent and warrant that you are 18 or older and that you have the capacity to understand, agree to and comply with these Terms of Service.

The humorous part is that despite illegally using Orkut, many of the youth seem to be complying with the second part of the terms of service.

In addition, you must provide true, accurate and complete registration information to be an orkut.com member [...]

Although to my knowledge Orkut rejects users from registering who are under 18, it ironically allows users to adjust their age below 18 which makes them easy targets for child predators.

Google might be wise to either remove the age reduction below 18 or simply create an Orkut for kid's--otherwise they may find themselves in hot water again.

If You Can't Beat Orkut, Just Copy It?

This sure is interesting. It seems that someone is seeking to hire a developer to "clone Orkut" and all of its features (with a few changes of course). Talk about opening yourself to a future lawsuit.

From Get A Freelancer.com

We are seeking developers to develop a clone of orkut.com with all it features, we will suggest minor modifications. This will be a from scratch project including graphic design. Please understand that we are looking for a complete project not simply graphic design.

While graphic design is very important, making sure the site functions properly is crucial to it's potential success. If you think you have the tools to get the job done, let us know. I will need hosting (optional-I can arrange with other party for hosting). Need to get everything top to bottom.

This offer is being made available via HifiGroups (who are they?) from the UK, and they are willing to pay up to $1500. The bid closes in five days (on August 15^th) although hiring a lawyer may cost more than that.

Did Google Force Fake Orkut Site Offline?

Earlier I reported on a site that was allegedly stealing Google passwords by pretending to be a legit site of Orkut.com. Because identity theft is a pet peeve of mine, I decided to report this to Google's Orkut team and they informed me that they had passed this message to "the appropriate team."

Not long after I received a reply from Google the site no longer was online as you can see from this screen shot below.



Apparently whoever owned the site was either contacted directly by Google or decided to quit after the blogosphere had picked up on this phishing scheme.

Since the site was registered by someone in West Orange, New Jersey, authorities may have the legal means to arrest and hopefully remove another internet thief from cyberspace.

Fake Orkut Site Stealing Google Passwords?

(Note: Published on The Social Networking Weblog)

(Hat Tip: IT Digest, Software And Tools, Digital Inspiration)

Users logging onto Orkut need to beware, as there seems to be a new phishing scheme aimed at stealing Google passwords to your account.

The carbon copy which goes by ork0t.com (with a zero replacing the "u") seems to be owned by a mysterious person from New Jersey according to whois.net. I did a reverse phone number lookup of this person, but apparently they have listed little info about their true identity.

Users who have Google Toolbar (with Firefox) installed should receive this warning below, notifying them of this copycat.



Users who accidentally log into this site should notify Google as well as change your password to all Google services. (Note: Compromised accounts should not affect users Ad Sense publisher accounts if one does not hold a Gmail account with Google).

Update: I've notified Google about this already, so hopefully their legal department can take care of this issue.

Drug Trafficking Forum? Not Good

This will probably not make Google or the FBI happy, but it seems as if child predators are not the only ones using Orkut. Here's a description from the Online drugs/alcohol shop:

BUY, SELL & BARGAIN any where---->ALCOHOL+DRUGS

p.s: plz dnt publish your ph.nmbrs/details on the main menu.. but msg in private...credit-cards/other modes are admissible for smooth transactions......cheers

Although many transactions have taken place in Pakistan, there seems to be some hash dealing in the United Kingdom and even in America's capital, Washington D.C.

Some of the main deals seem to be hash, although there are people offering heroine and cocaine.