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Three Google executives have been convicted of violating the privacy of a disabled boy after disturbing footage of him being bullied was put on YouTube.
The case, the first of its kind in the history of the internet, raises questions over web freedom.
The tria centred on fim of a teenager, who has Down's Syndrome, being punched and kicked by four boys at a Turin school. The footage was up-loaded in September 2006 where it shot to number one in the most viewed section and stayed there for two months before being removed.
Prosecutors in Milan brought the case after being contacted by a charity and argued the boy's privacy had been violated and that Google should have removed the footage much sooner than it did.
Lawyers for Google, the owner of YouTube, argued regulation would be impossible because it would have to preview thousands of films before up-loading them.
The three executives found guilty were David Carl Drummond, senior vice president; George De Los Reyes, a retired financial executive; and privacy director Peter Fleischer.
They have been given six-month suspended sentences.
The four bullies were convicted in a youth court.
From Metro |
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