Google Employees Lose In Italian Court
February 24, 2010Three Google executives—arrested during a layover at an airport, if I remember right—have been convicted for a YouTube video that showed the bullying of an autistic child. A fourth was acquitted of charges.
Supposedly, showing such a video is illegal in Italy. The judge in the case”absolved the three of defamation but convicted them of privacy violations.”
The case has been described as ridiculous, and with good reason. According to the experts quoted at the BBC, it would mean that every single thing uploaded into YouTube would have to be vetted before shown. A consultant in the case has noted that “it is like prosecuting the post office for hate mail that is sent in the post.”
With the difference, I should note, that the post office is not in the business of letting anyone other than recipient seeing the contents of the mail…so that’s not quite an appropriate comparison. I understand what he means by it, though: Google just stores the stuff, and is not responsible for what gets uploaded.
On the other hand, the Italian court seems to be saying, “well, you should be if you’re going to allow the world to see it.” The post office doesn’t have that problem because, again, they’re in the business of delivering–be it hate mail or otherwise–to the correct person, as opposed to ensuring the contents of that letter is shared with the world.
