Lauren Weinstein has posted about a troubling development in Italy involving free speech vs. privacy protections. What would happen if service providers, such as You Tube, become responsible for content they don’t control?
What are you in for, kid? – “I worked for Google … “
In Italy, prosecutors are bringing charges against four former and current Google employees, charging them with defamation and failure to appropriately control personal data.
The defendants in this case didn’t post anything themselves. At issue is the posting of a video in 2006 to YouTube that showed students humiliating a youth with Down syndrome. Italian authorities are asserting that the posting of this video is contrary to Italian law, even though the video was removed from YouTube by Google within hours of Google being notified of its existence.