In a week which saw the setting up and speedy closure in Italy of a facebook group which encouraged the derision of children with Down’s Syndrome, a Milan court has found three Google officers guilty of invasion of the privacy of a Down’s Syndrome teenager who was shown being bullied in a 2006 video clip.
The officers did not personally upload or post the video but under Italian law they can be held responsible because they represent the company, Google, on whose website the video appeared. The clip shows the boy being ridiculed, insulted, pushed and pelted with objects while classmates look on. It was viewed 5,500 times while it was available for two months in 2006 on the now defunct Google Video site and rose to the top of Italy’s “most entertaining video” list on the site.
The Google defence argued that the company had withdrawn the video as soon as it was alerted to its content and had helped the school to identify the bullies, who were expelled. The prosecution had also accused Google of defamation but this was not upheld.
David Carl Drummond, former Google Italy chief and now its senior vice-president and senior legal officer, retired board member George De Los Reyes and Google Europe privacy chief Peter Fleischer were each given six-month suspended sentences. The prosecution had argued for sentences of one year.
The family of the boy concerned in the case had, in fact, withdrawn their suit – possibly because of an out-of-court settlement – but the trial went ahead because Vivi Down, a non-governmental association which supports people with Down’s Syndrome, had made the complaint, along with Milan City Hall.
Google said of the verdict,
“It is an attack on the fundamental principles on which the internet was built.” However, Milan Prosecutor Alfredo Robledo said that a fundamental right – that of an individual to privacy - had been upheld and put before the interests of a company.
Google says it will appeal and that it has no intention of pulling out of Italy.
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