Google executives convicted of privacy violations in Italy
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An Italian court in Milan on Wednesday convicted three Google executives of violating privacy laws because they did not move quickly enough to remove an online video that showed classmates abusing an autistic boy.
Judge Oscar Magi of the Milan court gave the trio a six-month suspended sentence for violating privacy laws but absolved them of defamation charges, the Adnkronos news agency reported.
The three included Google's senior vice president and chief legal officer, David Drummond, former chief financial officer George Reyes and global privacy counsel Peter Fleischer. Senior product marketing manager Arvind Desikan was acquitted.
"The rights of a company cannot have precedence over the dignity of people," said prosecutor Alfredo Robledo.
Local media said the charges were sought by Vivi Down, an advocacy group for people with Down syndrome. The group alerted prosecutors to the 2006 video showing an autistic student in the northern city of Turin being beaten and insulted by classmates at school.
In the landmark case, prosecutors accused the executives of defamation of character and failing to oversee personal content when the students uploaded the video on Google Video.
Milan-based Google Italy eventually removed the video, although the two sides disagreed on how fast the company reacted to complaints.
All four executives, who were tried in absentia, denied any wrongdoing in the case that has attracted international attention because of its implications regarding Internet privacy.
Marco Pancini, Google's senior policy counsel in Italy, on Wednesday described the sentence as "an attack on fundamental principles of freedom."
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