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Google Executives Prosecuted Over Video Of Bullied Teen

Posted on: Thursday, 26 November 2009, 07:35 CST

An Italian prosecutor demanded jail time Wednesday for four Google executives charged in absentia with defamation and violating privacy for allowing a video to be posted online showing an autistic youth being abused.

Prosecutor Alfredo Robledo is seeking a one-year term for three executives for violating privacy, and six months for a fourth for defamation in the case. Sentencing is expected Dec. 23.

In the video, uploaded using a Google video site where it remained for nearly two months in late 2006, the teenager was bullied by four students in front of more than a dozen others who did not intervene.

Google says, "This prosecution is akin to prosecuting mail service employees for hate speech letters sent in the post. We took the video down when notified by the authorities and, thanks to our cooperation, the bullies who recorded and uploaded it have been identified and punished."

The maximum sentence for such charges -- complicity in defamation and harm to private life -- is three years in prison.

The Google executives on trial are David Carl Drummond, the head of Google Italy's managing board at the time; George De Los Reyes, a board member who has since quit; Peter Fleitcher, in charge of privacy protection in Europe; and Arvind Desikan, head of videos for Europe.

All four have denied wrongdoing, and none was involved with producing, uploading or viewing the video, according to the defense.

The company said the case would be similar to prosecuting postal workers for distributing letters containing "hate speech."

Prosecutors said the trial was "not about Internet freedom, but whether or not a free zone exists where laws do not apply," according to elements of their argument reported by Italian media.

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Source: RedOrbit Staff & Wire Reports

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