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Italian Prosecutors Seek Prison Sentences For Google Execs
angry tapir writes "Milan prosecutors have sought prison sentences ranging from six months to one year for four Google executives accused of violating Italy's privacy laws over the posting of a video showing the bullying of a handicapped teenage boy. The prosecutor's request was backed up by a request by lawyers representing the Milan city council for €300,000 (US$452,000) in moral and material damages. The case concerns the posting on Google Video of a three-minute mobile-phone video showing a handicapped boy being tormented by his classmates in a Turin school."
that those Italian prosecutors are going after the really guilty parties instead of the little, misguided tykes who perpetrated the incident.
Sig Follows: "Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself." -- Mark Twain
was to punish the bullies (appropriately scaled to the age of the guilty parties)! The case against Google seems absurd in any case. It hinges on the fact that Google didn't remove the video after it was requested to. The reason was that the request was sent to the wrong address. Google may seem to be omniscient but if they didn't get the notice there is no rational case against them. In any case I doubt they're answerable to Italian law unless the prosecutors could prove to an American court that extradition is warranted.
So if this is the future...where's my jet pack?
Once again, no good deed goes unpunished.
Yeah. If only the Latin name wasn't Augusta Taurinorum, that has nothing to do with cliffs and all with the emperor's name and the name of the local people.
If anyone posts video of someone performing some illegal activity, delete it ASAP, don't tell anyone and sweep everything under the rug. The video was never there, you never saw anything and I'm sorry, Officer that I can't help you, am I free to go now?
At least that's what the court is trying to teach them.
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Every international company has to obey laws for that country, or not do business in that country. When the Wolfenstein games were released in Germany, they had to remove all Nazi signs because that is German law.
Google was told they had to filter search results, or they would be blocked in China. They filter results, but they are the only search engine in China which says right on the search page that the results have been filtered. At least they made a small effort to stand up for free speech while technically complying with China's laws.
http://blindscribblings.com - Tasty pop-culture in conceptual fashion.
Unless these execs posted the videos personally, why are they trying to hold Google responsible? What kind of mob law does Italy follow? What was done to the boy was reprehensible, and by all means, punish the people who did this to him. I seriously doubt these execs even knew this video existed until someone told them they had been charged. Allowing public anger to dictate who can be charged as a criminal when they have done nothing wrong is just stupid not to put too fine a point on it.
I think it shows how Google lives the 'don't do evil' slogan. They try to be a good citizen everywhere. Unfortunately this is not easy, in Chine a good citizen does not talk about certain things, in the US you are not supposed to hide the same things. Sou you can not be a good citizen in both places at the same time. Google could choose not to be in China, but this would not help matters (it would be blocked by the great firewall).
Every international company has to obey laws for that country, or not do business in that country. When the Wolfenstein games were released in Germany, they had to remove all Nazi signs because that is German law.
If I set up a server in not-Germany, I wouldn't have to do a damned thing to alter the content that my website is providing with respect to German law. Germany would be free to block my site, but I am not responsible for the laws of Germany as long as I'm not going into Germany, or attempting to send products to Germans. I follow the laws of my host country.
If what Google is doing in China is good enough for you, that's fine. But I consider it to be a tremendous and horrid act to behave in accordance with laws which violate someone's human rights. I won't suggest that you must believe the same as I do, but Google's warning on their website is a token gesture and is meaningless without sufficient action to back up it's statements.
The point remains that by setting up shop in a country, and attempting to follow the 'laws' of every country, Google has placed itself in the position where countries (like Italy) attempt to treat them like they have an actual business in that country.
The internet does not have an immediate analogue in the real world, and attempting to treat services provided on the internet as a local service simply because you can 'see' it from inside your country is flawed logic. I suppose the closest analogy to this example would be someone in Italy attempting to apply an Italian law against lewd behavior against an Austrian couple because they were visible from the Italian side of the border.
Just because you can 'see' it on the internet doesn't mean that the act occurred within your country's jurisdiction.
Out of modpoints but really liked a post? 1BDkF6TtmmeZ3yqXbz9yhdYVqRYnwFoXDj
There is no other word for the rule of Berlusconi than a smoothly veiled dictatorship...
An example of the abuse of his media empire: http://features.csmonitor.com/globalnews/2009/11/10/italy-the-latest-fashion-%E2%80%93-blue-socks-against-berlusconi/
It sounds stupid, and it really is... but this is the only country in Europe where politicians can get away with smear campaigns, and only because this politician owns or influences most media in the country.
Something a little more scary is the immunity Berlusconi gave himself to prevent any convictions of his crimes... but that was ruled unconstitutional: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8295716.stm
Just because you can 'see' it on the internet doesn't mean that the act occurred within your country's jurisdiction.
Apart from the fact that Google.it is registered in Italy, and the video is accessible from google.it
I hope this serves as a lesson to companies who seem to want the best of all worlds. I'm kind of glad that google is getting hit with this because it brings to light the problem with trying to cater to the demands of local governments. When Google began working with governments in foreign jurisdictions it opened the door to this type of activity.
Xenophobic much? If Google wants to customise their service depending on which country they're serving, it's their own [censored] business. If you don't like it, nobody's forcing you to use anything Google related. It's not like the US is perfect either.
which is totally what she said
Plain and simple money grab attempt. Shame on these "officials". How about more concern about the victim?
But I consider it to be a tremendous and horrid act to behave in accordance with laws which violate someone's human rights.
I personally dislike China's ubiquitous censorship, and Google supporting it. But I don't think that internet searches have anything to do with human rights. What right is being infringed upon? Sure, it is still tyranny, but I have grave doubts that there is any right to uncensored internet searches (actually I have grave doubts that there are any innate human rights at all!).
A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government. -edward abbey
Isn't it sad that mods miss irony in a post even if its title states it?
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You know, with Germany talking about making Google Analytics illegal and now this crap, I'm rapidly losing my patience with those who keep running on about how Europe is such a free place.
512 MB RAM, 20 GB disk, 200 GB transfer, five datacenters. $19.95/month.
Troll? Fine, somebody please explain to me how prosecuting Google employees for providing a service that anybody can use to upload videos, and complying with police requests for assistance after the authorities bothered to use the correct contact channels is anything but completely insane.
The kids involved are the guilty parties; maybe someone should go arrest their parents for failing to raise them properly. Oh, the parents aren't responsible for watching their kids 24 hours a day? Well, it isn't Google's responsibility to take their place.
512 MB RAM, 20 GB disk, 200 GB transfer, five datacenters. $19.95/month.
I think you missed the memo - Europe is the new Apple and thus is above all recrimination (except for when they try to pass 3 strike laws and justify all of Britain's CCTV cameras). And Americuns is dumbestest and must submit to any and all insults about their intelligence and lack of culture, even if the post itself proves insightful and the poster has demonstrated time and again that (s)he does not fit the mold of the uneducated American.
In other words, America is universally reviled and you are expected to just shut up and accept the hatred, but don't stop writing those support checks to the rest of the world.
Oh, was that my outside voice?
Politically, Europe is not a single entity. Some European countries (e.g. UK, Italy, Greece) are more corrupt than other countries (e.g. Ireland, Finland, Estonia).
Of course, all countries have bad laws ("three strikes" etc). Some just happen to have more than others, both within and outside EU.
The reason why U.S. gets more attention than others is because it's the only country which persistently applies the label "Land of the Free", and similar ones, in its political propaganda, with the implication that it's ultimately more free than other countries. Hence why its anti-freedom policies are more heavily scrutinized.
I mean, when U.S. fucks that up, you can always remember about the "freedom" in "freedom, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness". When e.g. Canada fucks up, you can at best remember "peace, order, and good government", and notice the conspicuous absence of the word "free" in there.
In other words, it's all about false advertising. ~