Google has branded the ruling ‘ludicrous’, and says it will appeal against the convictions Photo: GETTY

The trial centred on footage posted on Google Video that showed a Down’s syndrome teenager being bullied by four other boys at a school in Turin. The footage was uploaded to the site in September 2006, and remained online for two months before being removed following complaints from web users.

Prosecutors in Milan brought the case after being contacted by a charity, Viva Down. The court argued that the boy’s privacy had been violated and that Google should have removed the footage quicker than it did.

Three Google employees – David Drummond, Peter Fleischer and George Reyes, who has since left the company – were found guilty of failing to apply with the Italian privacy code, and were given six-month suspended sentences.

But Google said the ruling was “ludicrous”, and pledged to appeal against a “chilling decision” that had potentially far-reaching implications for scores of websites.

“None of the people convicted by the Italian court have anything to do with the video in question,” said D-J Collins, a director of communications and public policy at Google. “This ruling effectively says that the employees of any site that carries user-generated content are effectively criminally liable for the actions of their web community.”

Google said that despite the controversial ruling, it would not be reconsidering its position in Italy, and would not be ceasing operations or shutting down YouTube. Collins said it was too early to say whether or not the case set a precedent in other European countries, and said it would stand “shoulder to shoulder” with the three men convicted in the case.

David Drummond, Google’s chief legal officer and one of the three people convicted, said he was “outraged” by the court’s decision.

“If individuals like myself and my Google colleagues who had nothing to do with the harassing incident, its filming or its uploading onto Google Video can be held criminally liable solely by virtue of our positions at Google every employee of any internet hosting service faces similar liability,” he said.

“Clear law in the European Union and in Italy recognises that internet hosting providers like Google are not required to monitor content that they host. Once Google learned of the offending video it removed it consistent with its responsibilities under these laws.

“The ruling of the court in Milan poses a grave danger to the continued freedom and operation of the many internet services that users around the world including many Italians have come to rely on in their day to day affairs. It imperils the powerful tool that an open and free internet has become for social advocacy and change.”

The Italian courts have a record of pursuing technology companies for the misdemeanours of their users. Last year, Italy’s taxation regulators opened an investigation in to eBay, demanding that it hand over the details of customers who had sold goods through the auction site between 2004 and 2007. Yahoo! has also been asked by public prosecutors to surrender the private emails of suspected criminals, while Facebook was forced to hand over the personal information of users who were using the social-networking site to “glorify” Mafia figures, and promoting the violent death of Silvio Berlusconi.

Technology commentators have reacted with fury and dismay to the Google ruling. “This is just downright ridiculous,” said Mike Masnick, co-founder of influential technology website TechDirt. “Honestly, I can’t see how anyone would make a ruling in this manner and think that it makes sense.

“You would think that suing the execs of the company that made the tissue box [which was thrown at the boy in the video by his bullies] would make more sense than Google’s execs. Why not charge the execs of the company that made the camera that was used to film the incident? It’s hard to hear about this ruling and not consider the Italian legal system to be a joke.”

from - http://www.telegraph.co.uk/