[release]MILAN — Three Google executives were convicted Wednesday of violating Italian privacy laws in a ruling that the company denounced as an “astonishing” attack on freedom of expression on the Internet.
The case involves online videos showing an autistic boy being bullied by classmates in Turin, which were posted in 2006 on Google Video, a video-sharing service that Google ran before its acquisition of YouTube.
Prosecutors charged that the videos violated Italian personal privacy protections. They said the clips were removed only after complaints from Vivi Down, an Italian organization representing people with Down syndrome, whose name was mentioned in the videos.
“We are definitely satisfied that someone has to take responsibility for this violation of privacy,” said Guido Camera, a lawyer for Vivi Down.
Google said it planned to appeal, warning that the verdicts raised serious questions about the viability of user-generated content platforms like YouTube in Italy and potentially elsewhere in Europe.
“If company employees like me can be held criminally liable for any video on a hosting platform, when they had absolutely nothing to do with the video in question, then our liability is unlimited,” said one of the three executives, Peter Fleischer, Google’s chief privacy counsel.
“The decision today therefore raises broader questions like the continued operation of many Internet platforms that are the essential foundations of freedom of expression in the digital age,” he said in a statement.
Video-sharing services like Google Video and YouTube generally rely on users to notify them of potentially problematic content, which is then taken down if it violates the terms of service. Screening or editing the contents of user-generated video sites in advance, they say, is impossible because of the volume of material that is posted.
Google insists that under European Union law, video-sharing sites and other Internet companies are protected from liability for the content of material posted. But it is a gray area, according to legal experts.
The relevant European Union law, which is in effect in Italy, was adopted a decade ago, before user-generated content was the popular phenomenon it is today. While Internet service providers are protected from so-called intermediate liability for the content they convey, the law does not specifically address user-generated content.
Paolo Brini, a Perugia-based spokesman for Movimento ScambioEtico, a group that campaigns for an unfettered Internet, said it was unfair to hold Internet companies responsible for potential legal issues arising from such material.
“In all of history, nobody ever thought you had to put in jail a postman because a package contained something illegal,” he said.
But Italy has been a difficult market for Google and other American Internet companies. A law being debated in the Italian Parliament would increase such companies’ liability for copyright violations and other potential infractions.
Mr. Brini said he feared that if the Milan verdict stood, it could give rise to a broader European debate about the extent of Internet companies’ liability. Some television providers and other traditional media companies have been lobbying for tighter restrictions on Internet companies.
Google is currently fighting a copyright lawsuit brought by Mediaset, the Italian broadcaster controlled by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.
Google also faces an antitrust investigation in Italy, stemming from complaints brought by newspaper publishers who say the company exercises unfair control over the online advertising business.
In addition to Mr. Fleischer, the officials who were found guilty in the Milan case are David Drummond, senior vice president and chief legal officer, and George Reyes, a former chief financial officer. They were tried in absentia.
The executives, who were named because Italian law holds corporate executives responsible for a company’s actions, received six-month suspended sentences. They had faced sentences of up to one year.
While the executives were found guilty of privacy violations, they were cleared of charges of defamation. A fourth Google executive, Arvind Desikan, faced only the defamation charge and was also cleared.
Giuseppe Bana, the lawyer for Mr. Drummond, called the verdicts “contradictory.”
“The fact that the accusation of defamation did not pass is significant,” he said.
Eric Sylvers reported from Milan and Eric Pfanner from Paris.[/release]
[url]http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/25/technology/companies/25google.html[/url]
Fucking bullshit, google didn't even make this video they just hosted it, why not just hunt down the videos creator?
This is stupid, Google can't be held liable for something it didn't make.
Do you even read the stores before you post them?
[QUOTE=EliteGuy;20400037]Do you even read the stores before you post them?[/QUOTE]
I was wondering that too.
Oh he edited it. :golfclap:
So there was an inappropriate video on google video but then it was removed after a complaint was received?
HOLY FUCK GUYS GOOGLE IS EVIL
[QUOTE=Perfumly;20400045]So there was an inappropriate video on google video but then it was removed after a complaint was received?[/QUOTE]
Yes.
This is like somebody sending you a package with a videotape of some crime and you get arrested for it. Nice going.
I'll be honest I didn't even read the damn article, my bad.
I changed my comment.
Perfumly, did you even read the story.
The problem was that the Google execs are being blamed for hosting a video that others had upoloaded
[QUOTE=Luuper;20400083]Perfumly, did you even read the story.
The problem was that the Google execs are being blamed for hosting a video that others had upoloaded[/QUOTE]
I'm pretty sure he was replying to my comment on the news story.
[QUOTE=Luuper;20400083]Perfumly, did you even read the story.
The problem was that the Google execs are being blamed for hosting a video that others had upoloaded[/QUOTE]
Yes, and what he said was sarcasm. Doesn't matter if he was replying to the OP's comment or to the story, it both makes sense.
This is ridiculous and I hope it doesn't come through.
Meh. Google should tell Italy to fuck off and block them from all of their services. They'll never have to worry about it again.
I was hoping to see Google being held accountable for collecting, stockpiling, and selling obscene amounts of people's personal information, but this is bullshit. It's not their fault what people choose to host on a site open to the public.
[QUOTE=Luuper;20400083]Perfumly, did you even read the story.
The problem was that the Google execs are being blamed for hosting a video that others had upoloaded[/QUOTE]
sarcasm meter broken
People love blaming other people, regardless of who is responsible.
I genuinely fail to see how the Google employees are guilty of anything at all. Google host the biggest video site on the Internet, they can't be expected to keep it spotless and absolutely free from bad stuff.
Google is being picked on a lot recently. :frown:
[b]Breaking News:[/b] Google doesn't give a shit.
[QUOTE=Exploits;20401213][b]Breaking News:[/b] Google doesn't give a shit.[/QUOTE]
I'm pretty sure they would if their men were going to have to serve a sentence and sit in jail.
Italy is poor and lazy. Google is rich and handsome. Italy just tries to make some money with minimal effort.
[QUOTE=Awesomecaek;20402412]Italy is poor and lazy. Google is rich and handsome. Italy just tries to make some money with minimal effort.[/QUOTE]
You are clearly 12. They're just overreacting, not attempting to get money.
[QUOTE=breakyourfac;20401234]I'm pretty sure they would if their men were going to have to serve a sentence and sit in jail.[/QUOTE]
But they won't. Google has the money to get this overturned in an instant because clearly they aren't at fault. I also don't see how CEO's in California are bound by arbitrary Italian law, but, well, I'm no coporate expert.
[quote]The case involves online videos showing an autistic boy being bullied by classmates in Turin, which were posted in 2006 on Google Video, a video-sharing service that Google ran before its acquisition of YouTube.[/quote]
Sounds like Italy is the autistic one here.
[QUOTE=Exploits;20403105]But they won't. Google has the money to get this overturned in an instant because clearly they aren't at fault. I also don't see how CEO's in California are bound by arbitrary Italian law, but, well, I'm no coporate expert.[/QUOTE]
They aren't, it'd be impossible for them to get sued.
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