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Google executives face criminal defamation trial in Italy

By Bernard Hibbitts (editor) and University of Pittsburgh School of Law students.

[JURIST] Executives from Google, Inc. will go on trial Tuesday in Italy for criminal defamation arising out of Google Video content depicting a disabled boy being teased and bullied. The defendants include product marketing manager Arvind Desikan, former CFO George Reyes, chief legal officer David Drummond, and privacy executive Peter Fleischer. The charges, which also include breach of Italy's privacy code, could result in up to three years in prison if convictions are reached. The video, which involves a boy with Down syndrome who was teased by four others, was hosted on the streaming video site for two months before being removed. Google is defending itself on the grounds that the video was removed as soon as the company was aware of its presence and that they have fully cooperated with Italian authorities. The prosecutor alleges that the boy's privacy was violated by the company failing to prevent the posting of the video. According to Italian law, Internet content providers are responsible for third-party postings. Google has previously stated that "seeking to hold neutral platforms liable for content posted on them is a direct attack on a free, open Internet." Google has been involved in litigation in the US, mainly involving copyright issues. In April, US Department of Justice (DOJ) officials began looking into whether a copyright infringement settlement agreement involving Google Books violates anti-trust laws. The two lawsuits that resulted in the settlement were originally brought against Google in 2005. In September 2005, the Authors Guild alleged "massive copyright infringement at the expense of the rights of individual writers." The lawsuit accused Google of engaging in unauthorized scanning and copying of books through its Google Print Library Project. The other lawsuit, brought by the Association of American Publishers (AAP) in October 2005, alleged that Google infringed copyrights held by a number of publishing companies when it scanned the entire book collections of several universities to make them searchable online.

Full post as published by JURIST - The Paper Chase on June 22, 2009 (boomark / email).