The case revolves around a video of the bullying of an autistic student, uploaded by the bullies in 2006. Google was made aware of the video, and took it down within 24 hours. They also helped authorities identify the uploader, and thus help bring the bullies to justice.
Google did the right thing – right? Wrong, says an Italian court, which charged and convicted three Google employees (four were charged) of “failure to comply with Italian privacy code”, with six-month suspended jail sentences.
This is completely stupid and ridiculous, particularly considering, as Google’s blog entry points out:
“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.”
Google plans on appealing the convictions, but the fact this even came up is chilling. It sets a precedent that hosting providers are criminally liable for user-generated content. Taken to the most onerous conclusion, it would effectively ban user-generated content altogether, as no company would take the risk of being taken to court over content they had no control over.
This would mean the death of sites like YouTube, Facebook, Flickr, WordPress, Tumblr, Twitter, and countless others. Effectively the death of the web as we know it, which was built on, and continues to thrive on, user-generated content.
Would someone in Italy please smack some sense into your laywers and judges? Please? Thanks.