YouTube blocked in Brazil

YouTube is being blocked by Brazil’s second-largest fixed-line telephone operator in response to a judicial order banning a steamy video of supermodel Daniela Cicarelli, the telephone company said Monday.

Brasil Telecom said it blocked access to YouTube across a wide swath of Latin America’s most populous country late Friday after receiving the order.

The widely viewed video shows Cicarelli and Brazilian banker Renato Malzoni in intimate scenes along a beach near the Spanish city of Cadiz. It became even more popular over the weekend after the Brazil ban made headlines worldwide and users posted the video to a slew of other websites.

A judge last week ordered YouTube to prevent the video from being seen by Brazilians.

The judge also said fixed-line operators that provide the gateway to Internet providers must take part in the ban until YouTube can prove that the clip cannot be accessed in Brazil on its site.

YouTube, which said Friday that it had taken down links to the video because they violated terms of use, declined to comment on the latest development.

Cicarelli and Malzoni sued YouTube in September and won an injunction for the removal of the video, but a state Supreme Court justice expanded his order and included the telecommunications companies last week after the clip continued to appear periodically.