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Four Google Officials Facing Charges In Italy For Errant Video

mikesd81 writes to tell us that four Google employees may be facing charges of defamation and failure to control personal data simply because they didn't remove a video of a boy with Down's Syndrome being harassed and eventually hit over the head with a box of tissue, from Google Video. The video was posted in September of 2006 and was removed by Google within a day of receiving the initial complaints, but apparently that isn't fast enough. "Google maintains charges against the employees are unwarranted, Pancini said. Europe's E-commerce Directive exempts service providers from prescreening content before it is publicly posted, he said. Also, the video was technically uploaded to a Google server in the US, not in Italy, Pancini said. 'It was a terrible video,' Pancini said, adding that Google is concerned about the case's impact on censorship on the Internet. The defendants include David C. Drummond, a Google senior vice president, corporate development and chief legal officer. Pancini said Drummond did paperwork to create Google Italy, but has never lived in the country."

3 of 153 comments (clear)

  1. Long Italian tradition of standing up for the weak by elrous0 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Sometimes Youtube is like some sort of arena where the weak are abused for the mere amusement of the masses. And of course, Italians would never put up with such a vile spectacle!

    --
    SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
  2. Re:Prosecutors in Italy are stupid... by plague3106 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Well, thank god that never happens in the USA!

  3. Re:Long Italian tradition of standing up for the w by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Too soon.