Google: Serious threat to the web in Italy

[Lunican]

Serious threat to the web in Italy
2/24/2010 01:57:00 AM

In late 2006, students at a school in Turin, Italy filmed and then uploaded a video to Google Video that showed them bullying an autistic schoolmate. The video was totally reprehensible and we took it down within hours of being notified by the Italian police. We also worked with the local police to help identify the person responsible for uploading it and she was subsequently sentenced to 10 months community service by a court in Turin, as were several other classmates who were also involved. In these rare but unpleasant cases, that's where our involvement would normally end.

But in this instance, a public prosecutor in Milan decided to indict four Google employees â€"David Drummond, Arvind Desikan, Peter Fleischer and George Reyes (who left the company in 2008). The charges brought against them were criminal defamation and a failure to comply with the Italian privacy code. To be clear, none of the four Googlers charged had anything to do with this video. They did not appear in it, film it, upload it or review it. None of them know the people involved or were even aware of the video's existence until after it was removed.

Nevertheless, a judge in Milan today convicted 3 of the 4 defendants â€" David Drummond, Peter Fleischer and George Reyes â€" for failure to comply with the Italian privacy code. All 4 were found not guilty of criminal defamation. In essence this ruling means that employees of hosting platforms like Google Video are criminally responsible for content that users upload. We will appeal this astonishing decision because the Google employees on trial had nothing to do with the video in question. Throughout this long process, they have displayed admirable grace and fortitude. It is outrageous that they have been subjected to a trial at all.

But we are deeply troubled by this conviction for another equally important reason. It 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. If that principle is swept aside and sites like Blogger, YouTube and indeed every social network and any community bulletin board, are held responsible for vetting every single piece of content that is uploaded to them â€" every piece of text, every photo, every file, every video â€" then the Web as we know it will cease to exist, and many of the economic, social, political and technological benefits it brings could disappear.

These are important points of principle, which is why we and our employees will vigorously appeal this decision.

Posted by Matt Sucherman, VP and Deputy General Counsel - Europe, Middle East and Africa

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/02/serious-threat-to-web-in-italy.html

[BridgeTroll]

Wow...  Those wacky Italians...

[Sportmotor]

That is kinda messed up

[stjr]

Based on Italian rules, MetroJax better be careful.  I guess there won't be a "MetroRome" anytime soon. 

[urbanlibertarian]

The legacy of Benito Mussolini lives on.

[Dog Walker]

Actually it is a legacy of the Napoleonic Code which is the basis for the legal code in several countries.  Our legal system, based on English common law and our Constitution is so different that it is difficult for us to get our head around just how different the other systems are.

[urbanlibertarian]

Thanks for the insight, DW.

[BridgeTroll]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleonic_code

The Napoleonic Code â€" or Code Napoléon (originally, the Code civil des Français) â€" is the French civil code, established under Napoléon I in 1804. The code forbade privileges based on birth, allowed freedom of religion, and specified that government jobs go to the most qualified. It was drafted rapidly by a commission of four eminent jurists and entered into force on March 21, 1804. Even though the Napoleonic code was not the first legal code to be established in a European country with a civil legal system â€" it was preceded by the Codex Maximilianeus bavaricus civilis (Bavaria, 1756), the Allgemeines Landrecht (Prussia, 1794) and the West Galician Code, (Galicia, then part of Austria, 1797) â€" it is considered the first successful codification[citation needed] and strongly influenced the law of many other countries. The Code, with its stress on clearly written and accessible law, was a major step in establishing the rule of law. Historians have called it "one of the few documents which have influenced the whole world."[1]

[uptowngirl]

Louisiana still uses Napoleonic Code although I think the US Constitution keeps it in check a little more than appears to be the case in Italy '-)