[LINK] Google execs on trial for video posting in Italy

[Jan Whitaker]

[removal of video may not be good enough. Note there are privacy 
violations involved as well as defamation.]



Google Executives Face Jail Time for Italian Video

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/02/google-executives-face-jail-time-for-italian-video/
By Saul Hansell

Four executives of Google begin trial Tuesday in Milan on criminal 
charges of defamation and privacy violation in regard to a video 
posted on Google's Italian site.

The case involves a three-minute cellphone video, posted in 2006 to 
Google Video, in which four youths in Turin tease a boy with Down 
syndrome. After an Italian advocacy group complained that the video 
was objectionable, Google quickly removed it from the site. 
Prosecutors argue that the video should not have been published at all.

The four executives charged were not involved directly in handling 
video from Italy. They include David Drummond, Google's senior vice 
president and chief legal officer; George Reyes, its former chief 
financial officer; and Peter Fleischer, Google's global privacy 
counsel, according to a Google spokesman. The fourth executive worked 
at Google Video in London, the spokesman said, declining to identify him.

It is rare for Internet company executives to face personal criminal 
charges and possibly jail time for the actions of their companies.

"To our knowledge, this is the first time an individual has been 
criminally charged for violation of data protection laws that 
occurred by the company he or she works for," said Trevor Hughes, the 
executive director of the International Association of Privacy 
Professionals, which 
<https://www.privacyassociation.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1745&Itemid=228>wrote 
about the case in its newsletter Monday. "This suggests that privacy 
is going to be more of a battleground."

The case also raises again the question of whether Internet companies 
that allow users to submit content should screen items before they 
are published. This issue has mainly come up in the United States 
with regard to copyrighted music and video, and U.S. copyright law is 
meant to protect online services from liability if they respond to 
complaints quickly.

There are similar provisions in Europe, including Italian law. But 
there are questions about whether there are exceptions for young 
people and certain private information.

If the court holds that Google should have prevented the publication 
of the video simply because the subject didn't authorize it, it could 
have very broad implications. In Europe, the subject of a photograph 
or video typically has the right to say how the image is used. But so 
far, charges haven't been brought against user-generated content 
sites for hosting pictures posted without permission of the subjects.

In a statement, Google said the prosecution is misdirected:

As we have repeatedly made clear, our hearts go out to the victim and 
his family. We are pleased that as a result of our cooperation the 
bullies in the video have been identified and punished. We feel that 
bringing this case to court is totally wrong. It's akin to 
prosecuting mail service employees for hate speech letters sent in 
the post. What's more, seeking to hold neutral platforms liable for 
content posted on them is a direct attack on a free, open Internet. 
We will continue to vigorously defend our employees in this prosecution.




Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
jwhit at janwhitaker.com
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