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Google faces legal recriminations in Italy after a court found the Internet giant guilty of privacy violation due to a video posted by a user of the search engine.
Internet companies are feeling the heat for cyber-bullying and other online misbehaviors.
Three Google executives in Milan were convicted of violating Italy’s privacy code over a bullying video posted on the search platform, reports Reuters.
The video, which was first uploaded onto YouTube in 2006, showed four high school boys taunting an autistic classmate.
The Google execs, David Drummond, Peter Fleischer and George Reyes, took the video down, but were still sentenced to six-month suspended jail terms, according to InformationWeek.
In a blog post, Matt Sucherman, Google’s VP and Deputy General Counsel in Europe, Middle East and Africa, said he was “deeply troubled” by the verdict.
“Common sense dictates that only the person who films and uploads a video to a hosting platform could take the steps necessary to protect the privacy and obtain the consent of the people they are filming,” wrote Sucherman.
Many online activists agree.
Jeff Jarvis, writer of the BuzzMachine blog, said the Italian court is essentially asking Web sites to review everything that users post.
"The practical implication of that, of course, is that no one will let anyone put anything online because the risk is too great," Jarvis wrote. "I wouldn't let you post anything here. My ISP (Internet Service Provider) wouldn't let me post anything on its services. And that kills the Internet."
But legal experts are not as quick to condemn the ruling.
"I actually think that this is probably not a watershed moment because the Google convictions violate European law and ultimately they will be overturned," John Morris, general counsel for the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Democracy and Technology, told Reuters.
"Having said that, yes we are quite worried about the trend in other countries to suggest Internet service providers and Web sites should be the policemen of the Internet," Morris said.
This is not the first time an Internet company has come under fire for the actions of its users.
Facebook was asked to be more accountable for its content after a tribute page set up for two murdered children in Australia was bombarded with obscenities and porn.
"To have these things happen to Facebook pages set up for the sole purpose of helping these communities pay tribute to young lives lost in the most horrible ways adds to the grief already being experienced," Queensland Premier Ann Bligh wrote to Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg in a letter released to the Australian media.
The popular social network responded by saying that any reports of threats or hate would be quickly removed.
"Facebook is highly self-regulating and users can and do report content that they find questionable or offensive," said spokeswoman Debbie Frost.
Meanwhile, Google plans to appeal the decision by the Italian Court.
“If that principle is swept aside and sites like Blogger, YouTube and indeed every social network and any community bulletin board, are held responsible for vetting every single piece of content that is uploaded to them — every piece of text, every photo, every file, every video — then the Web as we know it will cease to exist, and many of the economic, social, political and technological benefits it brings could disappear,” wrote Sucherman.
With News Wire Services
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