MILAN, Dec 11 (Reuters) – An Italy prosecutor has asked an
appeals court to uphold jail sentences for three Google
executives charged with violating the privacy of an Italian boy
with autism by letting a video of him being bullied be posted on
the site in 2006.
“Not only has the privacy of minors been violated but
lessons of cruelty have been given to 5,500 visitors,” Milan
prosecutor Laura Bertole Viale said on Tuesday at the appeals
hearing.
Four students at a Turin school uploaded a mobile phone clip
to Google Video in 2006 showing them bullying the boy. The
prosecutors accused Google of negligence, saying the video
remained online for two months even though some Web users had
already posted comments asking for it to be taken down.
In February 2010, a court gave each of the three Google
executives, none of whom were based in Italy, six-month
suspended jail sentences.
Senior vice-president and chief legal officer David
Drummond, former Google Italy board member George De Los Reyes
and global privacy counsel Peter Fleischer did not face actual
imprisonment as the sentences were suspended.
Google appealed the ruling which it described at the time as
an attack on the fundamental principles of freedom on which the
Internet is built.
The company argued it removed the video immediately after
being notified and cooperated with Italian authorities to help
identify the bullies and bring them to justice.
A verdict is expected on December 21.
