Is the Latest Ruling against Italian Executive Of Google a Serious Threat to Web?

  Google said that the recent ruling against its top executives in Italy is a serious threat to Internet. In 2006, school kids at Turin, Italy uploaded at Google video that shows that a teenager with down syndrome is bullied. The main accusation against Google employees is that they broke Italian law by allowing the video to be posted online. Judge acquitted them from defamation lawsuit but convicted them for privacy violations. The three received six-month jail term with suspension and the other  defendant was acquitted.

” In essence this ruling means that employees of hosting platforms like Google Video are criminally responsible for content that users upload. 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. “  said Matt Sucherman, Google’s Deputy General Counsel.

The ruling said that since it didn’t take consent from all parties involved, it had broken Italian privacy law. Google said at the trial that it is totally impossible to check content before posting and that the company immediately took action after it came to their knowledge. But the prosecutors accused Google for negligence. He further said  that the video was online for two months even though some people already made comments asking Google to take it down. The company planned to appeal because the Google employees on trial had nothing to do with the disputed video.