Google executives face international defamation charges
02/09/2009Google is arguably the most powerful brand in the world. Last week in Milan, Italy, four of its executives went on trial over criminal charges of defamation because of a video that appeared on its site. This unprecedented case may begin to define global regulations of the Internet and its use, a landmark in the ongoing development of Internet law. This comes as unwelcome news to Google, whose spokesman told the press that Google should not be held responsible for how third parties choose to use the site.
The video was uploaded from a cell phone to Google Video in September 2006, and showed four male high school students teasing a 17-year old boy with Down syndrome in the northern city of Turin (Turino). Consequently, the boy's father and Vivi Down, an Italian advocacy group for people with Down syndrome, filed a complaint against Google, who promptly removed the one and a half minute-long video from the site.
In a press release dated July 29, 2008 (available on their website, vividown.org), Vivi Down stated that the group does not intend to censor the Internet, but to advocate on behalf of the hurt party and to insure that those responsible for it are punished accordingly. Google has expressed sympathy for the boy and his family, and has agreed to cooperate with the prosecutors "to show that all Googlers under investigation have no involvement in the Vivi Down case." The Google executives charged in the case are the senior vice president and chief legal officer David Drummond, the former chief financial officer George Reyes, global privacy counsel Peter Fleischer, and the former head of Google Video Europe Arvind Desikan - all face a maximum penalty of three years in prison.
On the Google side, a spokesman for the Internet giant has likened the case to " prosecuting mail service employees for hate speech letters sent in the post." Indeed, the prosecution has expressed its desire for the case to establish some guidelines for the application for international laws to parties who distribute certain types of media within the domain (geographically speaking) of the foreign country over servers located in the United States. Guido Camera, a lawyer representing Vivi Down, told the media, "The absence of legislation in this sector makes this an important test case."
The next hearing has been postponed until February 18. As indicated by Camera, the outcome of this trial will likely be an important determinant in future cases of this nature. The clash between Italian Internet law and that of the United States lies in the contrasting legislation: under Italy's privacy law, enacted in 2003-2004, it is the Internet content providers who are responsible for content posted online by a third party; according to Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996 (also known as Title V of the Telecommunications Act of 1996), neither Internet service providers nor Internet content providers are responsible for material posted by a third party.
