MILAN, (Reuters) – A Milan court convicted three Google Inc executives yesterday for violating the privacy of an Italian boy with autism by letting a video of him being bullied be posted on the site in 2006.
Google, which will appeal the six-month suspended jail terms in Italy, also heard that European Union antitrust regulators were looking into complaints about it from three online firms.
Google said it was confident it would avoid formal investigation by the European Commission.
It said the Milan verdict “poses a crucial question for the freedom on which the Internet is built” as none of its employees had anything to do with the video.
“They didn’t upload it, they didn’t film it, they didn’t review it and yet they have been found guilty,” said Google’s senior communications manager, Bill Echikson, in Milan.