Posted on 02/24/2010 7:41:34 AM PST by JoeProBono
Consider this can of worms wide open: An Italian court convicted three Google employees of privacy violations in a case stemming from a video uploaded to Google in 2006, which showed three students in Turin bullying an autistic schoolmate. The employees, Peter Fleischer, David Drummond and George De Los Reyes, received suspended six-month sentences.
Google addressed the ruling in a blog post titled, "Serious Threat to the Web in Italy," which was written late last night. From the post:
The charges brought against them were criminal defamation and a failure to comply with the Italian privacy code. 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.
The post's author, Matt Sucherman, a VP at the company, added that Google is "deeply troubled" by the ruling. As none of the aforementioned employees were involved in the shooting or uploading of the video, the company contends, they should not be convicted.
"If that principle is swept aside," writes Sucherman, "and sites like Blogger, YouTube and indeed every social network and any community bulletin board, are held responsible for vetting every single piece of content that is uploaded to them--every piece of text, every photo, every file, every video -- then the Web as we know it will cease to exist, and many of the economic, social, political and technological benefits it brings could disappear."
To be clear, the effects of this ruling are restricted to Italy. Italy is cutting off it's own (Roman) nose.
I’m torn on this, because anything that can jail Google employees is generally a good thing.
Scum, absolute scum. They should be charged.
Are you talking about the Google employees. Because if you are, then EVERYTHING posted on the web would have to be moderated before it’s posted. That means bye-bye Free Republic, too!
SHUT DOWN GOOGLE IN ITALY
TAKE THE *TEMPORARY* HIT- THE PEOPLE WILL SCREEAM FOR REVERSAL
Did you read the article?
“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. “
So why should they be charged?
you are 100% correct- If this ruling stands say bye bye to free republic.
ANY WEBSITE THAT RUNS IN ITALY SHOULD BE SHUT DONW *TODAY* AND STAY SHUT DOWN UNTIL THIS IS REVERSED
Sigh. Some do not know sarcasm when it is so obvious that a tag is not needed.
I cannot believe that a freeper is looking to back Big Brother eurotrash!
Are you talking about the Google employees. Because if you are, then EVERYTHING posted on the web would have to be moderated before it’s posted. That means bye-bye Free Republic, too!
Yep, some people don't get the principle of the thing... :-) It doesn't matter whether you like the outfit or not..., if that court can do it to them, they can do it to you or me on Free Republic.
First it's one country, then another, and another -- and pretty soon you can't travel anywhere, because if you do, you get arrested while traveling (even the other countries who don't have the laws have agreements where someone can get arrested in a third country and brought to "justice" in the original country (which does happen).
Pretty soon, FReepers are subject to being arrested if they step across some border, somewhere.
It's a very bad precedent to set.
“Sigh. Some do not know sarcasm when it is so obvious that a tag is not needed.”
Obviously, it wasn’t very obvious. You may think it was, but that’s why sarcasm tags were invented in the first place. Because not everyone is you.
Freepers are moderated. Some stuff won’t for example, appear on here.
If you want a site that posts disabled people getting the **** kicked out of them, fine. You can count me out.
“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. “
People are responsible for the content that is on their website. As for the concept that Free republic is unmoderated, just try posting porn for example and see how fast your thread gets taken down.
Whatever happened to the concept of ‘personal responsibility’? I have a homepage. If I were to post a video like this up there, would I not expect to receive a summons?
ph
Perhaps the idiot socialists at Google will realize that this is coming to a country near you unless we return to sanity.
I’m torn on this, because anything that can jail Google employees is generally a good thing.
Bad rule of law is BAD even when it is against someone you don’t like or care for.
The precedent it sets can turn around and effect you in ways you have not thought of. (like making any web site owner responsible for every single thing posted to their site including this one)
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.
Let me ask you something.
If you loaned your car out to people you did not know, would you be held responsible for things that were done by the vehicle?
I see a site like Free Republic to be a partnership. If you want FR to stay up, you follow the code of conduct, etc. These are non-negotiable things. FR won’t permit quite a variety of ‘speech’. They, IMO have a competitive advantage because of the moderation. It’s also up to us as posters to exercise personal responsibility by not abusing the freedoms we are given by the site owners.
“If you loaned your car out to people you did not know, would you be held responsible for things that were done by the vehicle?”
That might well be the worst analogy that I have ever seen written or said by anyone, ever.
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