Google executives on trial over video
Four Google executives went on trial on Tuesday in Milan for allegedly infringing the privacy of a teenager with Down’s Syndrome who appeared in a video posted on one of its sites.
According to the prosecution, the four officials from the online search engine had a "legal obligation to prevent" the video, which showed the boy being bullied by classmates, from airing, the ANSA news agency reported.
The four are also accused of collaborating to defame the teenager in an incident that caused a public outcry in Italy in 2006.
In the video, which was uploaded using a Google video site, the teenager was bullied by four students in front of over a dozen others who did not intervene.
The four students were expelled for the remainder of the school year from their school in Turin.
The Google executives standing trial include: David Carl Drummond, the head of Google Italy’s managing board; George De Los Reyes, a board member; Peter Fleitcher, in charge of privacy protection in Europe; and Arvind Desikan, head of videos for Europe.
Google called the decision to take the case to trial "difficult to understand" and said it set a "worrying precedent".
The next hearing is scheduled for February 19, according to ANSA.
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