"Serious threat to the web in Italy" by A Googler

From the Official Google Blog.

Back in 2006 students from a school in Italy posted a video on Google Videos of them bullying an autistic classmate. It was immediately reported, and Google shut it down immediately. Their involvement would normally end there, but in this case, it did not.

A public prosecutor in Milan indicted four Google employees for criminal defamation and failure to comply with the Italian Privacy Code. And today, a judge in Italy cleared all four from criminal defamation, but convicted 3 employees for non compliance with the Italian privacy code.

In Google's opinion, this "attacks the very principles of freedom on which the Internet is built. 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. European Union law was drafted specifically to give hosting providers a safe harbor from liability so long as they remove illegal content once they are notified of its existence. The belief, rightly in our opinion, was that a notice and take down regime of this kind would help creativity flourish and support free speech while protecting personal privacy." 



Read the complete article here