Volume VIII

Issue : 5: March 4, 2010

• Domain Name Transferred to Canadian Security Association After Ruling by Panel
• Google Buzz Target of New Class Action Lawsuit
• Class Action Filed Against Yelp for Business Reviews Site
• U.S. Court Says Comments on Facebook Protected by Freedom of Speech
• Italy Convicts Google Executives for Privacy Violations
• High School Accused of Webcam Spying
• Xerox Alleges Patent Infringement by Google and Yahoo!
• Facebook Obtains News Feed Patent

Home > Volume VIII > Issue 5: March 4, 2010 > Italy Convicts Google Executives for Privacy Violations

Italy Convicts Google Executives for Privacy Violations

An Italian court has convicted three Google executives of privacy violations by allowing a video to be posted online without obtaining the consent of all participants. The video, posted to Google Video in 2006 prior to Google’s acquisition of YouTube, depicted the bullying of a student at an Italian school. The convicted executives, including Google’s chief legal officer, David Drummond, each received 6-month suspended sentences. None had any connection to the harassment incident or any direct connection to the posting.

Google states that it removed the video as soon as it was brought to its attention and provided identifying information on who posted it. The ruling holds the executives criminally liable simply because of their position at Google. UK’s former information commissioner responsible for privacy issues characterises the event as “ridiculous” and akin to suing the post office for delivering hate mail. Google intends to appeal.

For additional information, visit:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8533695.stm
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9595_22-397304.html