Italians Convict Google Execs

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Yesterday, an Italian court in the Vivi Down case convicted David Drummond, Google’s senior vice president of corporate development, Peter Fleischer, global privacy counsel, and George Reyes, a former chief financial officer, of privacy violations for failing to prevent the posting of a video uploaded by a user on the Google Video service.

“This stunning verdict sets an extremely dangerous precedent that threatens free expression and chills innovation on the global Internet,” believes Leslie Harris, president & CEO of the Center for Democracy & Technology.  “This is precisely the sort of action by a western democracy that undermines Secretary Clinton’s call for global Internet freedom. The principle that technological intermediaries should be protected from liability for content posted by users has been a cornerstone of Internet freedom. It is enshrined in both EU and U.S. law.”

Judge Oscar Magi gave the three executives six-month suspended sentences, but cleared them of defamation charges. Google calls the conviction “astonishing” and said it would appeal.