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Journalism of Courage
Internet giant Google has been ordered to pay USD 500,000 in damages to Formula 1 racer Rubens Barrichello for hosting fake online profiles of him on its social network Orkut.
The decision by the court in Sao Paulo was published yesterday in the Brazilian state8217;s official government gazette.
It said the damages could be raised to USD 700,000 because of the case was lodged in July 2006,and that Google risked a daily fine of USD 590 until the pages referring to Barrichello were removed.
Orkut,owned by Google,has a big following in Brazil,though it is losing some ground to a new Portuguese-language version of Facebook that has become available.
The 15th district court of Sao Paulo hearing the civil case determined that Google8217;s responsibility was proved because it managed the site and established the rules for its use.
