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Google execs convicted in Italy for Down's video
A Milan court has convicted three Google Inc. executives for the 2006 transmission of a video showing the bullying of a youth with Down's Syndrome, the judge in the case told Reuters on Wednesday (24 February).
Background
The video in question was posted on Google Video in 2006. It ranked among the site's most popular content and had the highest amount of downloads. The Italian police told Google to take the video off its website and the bullies were brought to justice. But the Milan state prosecutor – and an Italian Down's Syndrome charity, Vivi Down – filed charges against Google for defamation and breach of privacy.
The Electronic Commerce Directive, adopted in June 2000, was established to provide legal certainty across the EU on all areas related to online commerce. The directive states that the applicable law is that of the member state in which a service provider is established. At the same time, it excludes prior authorisation for foreign online companies wishing to operate in other member states.
The directive also deals with commercial communication (including unsolicited adverts, for example), contracts concluded by electronic means, the information service that providers must make available to users (various contact details) and the liability of intermediary services in transmitting, 'caching' and storing information.
Video
The three were sentenced to six months in jail after being convicted of invasion of privacy, the judge said. A fourth executive was found not guilty.
The case stems from an incident in 2006 when students at an Italian school filmed and then uploaded a clip to Google Video showing them bullying a schoolmate with Down's Syndrome (EurActiv 17/12/09).
The complaint was brought by an Italian advocacy group for people with Down's Syndrome, Vivi Down, and the boy's father.
Down's Syndrome is the most common genetic cause of mental retardation, occurring in about 1 out of 700 live births.
The video, showing four male high school students in Turin humiliating the youth, was filmed from a mobile phone and posted on the site in September 2006.
Google had argued that it removed the video immediately after being notified and cooperated with Italian authorities to help identify the bullies and bring them to justice.
It said that as hosting platforms that do not create their own content, Google Video, YouTube and Facebook cannot be held responsible for content that others upload, comparing the case to prosecuting the postal system for hate letters sent by mail.
But the prosecutors accused Google of negligence, arguing that the video remained online for two months even though some web users had already posted comments asking for it to be taken down.
Censoring of websites has become a hot issue in Italy in recent months, following a spate of hate sites against officials including Berlusconi.
The government briefly studied plans to black out Internet hate sites after fan pages emerged praising an attack on the premier, but the idea was dropped after executives from Facebook, Google and Microsoft agreed to a shared code of conduct rather than legislation.
(EurActiv with Reuters.)
Positions
Ths US Embassy issued a statement expressing its disappointment with the verdict. "While we recognise the reprehensible nature of the material, we disagree that Internet service providers are responsible prior to posting for the content uploaded by users," it said.
"The fundamental principle of Internet freedom is vital for democracies which value freedom of expression and is protected by those who value liberty. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made clear on 21 January that a free Internet is an integral human right that must be protected in free societies. While all nations must guard against abuses, offensive material should not be an excuse to violate this fundamental right," the embassy's statement continued.
"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. I recognise that I am just a pawn in a larger battle of forces, but I remain confident that today's ruling will be overturned on appeal," Peter Fleischer, Google's legal counsel and one the executives convicted, said in a statement.
"This [sentence] is a blow to all the Internet users and providers in Italy. The decision of the court is yet another example how instead of using new technologies for tracking down and prosecuting law offenders, some authorities use their powers to punish the businesses and even normal users for the fault of others. This is compared to, for example, suing FIAT for the bad behaviour of a driver of a Fiat car," said Bulgarian MEP Ivaylo Kalfin of the Socialists and Democrats group in response to the verdict.
"It is important that this issue is addressed, as fundamental rights are universal. The Audiovisual Media Services Directive, adopted by the European Parliament and the Council on 11 December 2007, already prohibits the provision of audiovisual commercial communications by a service media provider if they prejudice respect for human dignity and include or promote any discrimination based on disability. Appropriate measures should also be introduced for electronic communications," read an earlier statement from the European Disabilty Forum before yesterday's sentencing.
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