google_200x200An Italian court has sentenced three Google executives to six months (suspended sentence) for the broadcasting of an autistic child being bullied by his classmates.

This has raised several moral questions regarding privacy and censorship on the internet, with some at Google comparing the use of the internet in Italy to that of China: “We disagree that Internet service providers are responsible prior to posting for the content uploaded by users,” stated the US embassy in Rome, backing Google. “Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made clear on January 21 (with regard to China) that a free Internet is an integral human right that must be protected in free societies.”

Those convicted were senior vice-president and chief legal officer David Drummond, George De Los Reyes the former Google Italy board member, and global privacy counsel Peter Fleischer. Senior product marketing manager Arvind Desikan was later acquitted. All three have had their sentences suspended, under Italian laws, due to a lack of prior convictions.

The complaint was brought by the boy’s father and Vivi Down, an Italian advocacy group for people with Down syndrome.

The video in question, shown on Google Video, showed four schoolboys bullying and beating the boy in a Turin school.


Written by: Robert, who runs a website about SEO