[LINK] shades of WSJ/Melbourne guy

[Jan Whitaker]

Remember Gutnick?

http://www.theage.com.au/technology/technology-news/google-fined-for-defamatory-message-on-networking-site-20100426-tlwh.html

Google fined for defamatory message on networking site

April 26, 2010

Google has been fined $US8500 ($9100) in Brazil after an anonymous 
internet user posted defamatory messages on one of its sites against 
a priest, calling him a "paedophile", media reported on Sunday.

A court in the state of Minas Gerais ruled in favor of the 
54-year-old priest, identified by his initials J.R., after rejecting 
Google's argument that the US web giant was not responsible for what 
users posted on its Orkut social networking site.

The verdict upheld a lower court's judgment made after the priest 
sued for defamation in 2008 over the post, which called him "the 
paedophile ... the thief who has a lover", the O Globo daily reported.

"By making space available on virtual networking sites, in which 
users can post any type of message without any checks beforehand, 
with offensive and injurious content, and, in many cases, of unknown 
origin, [Google] assumes the risk of causing damage [to other 
people]," judge Alvimar de Avila said.

Google's Orkut is a hugely popular networking site in Brazil, 
although a Portuguese-language version of Facebook is now making 
serious inroads into its dominance.

AFP



Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
jwhit at janwhitaker.com
blog: http://janwhitaker.com/jansblog/
business: http://www.janwhitaker.com

Our truest response to the irrationality of the world is to paint or 
sing or write, for only in such response do we find truth.
~Madeline L'Engle, writer

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