Google case in Italy

In May of 2006, a group of Italian teenagers recorded themselves insulting and physically assaulting an autistic boy (F.D.L.) in Turin Italy. One teenager claimed to be from the Association Vivi Down and asserted F.D.L. was one of the association’s ‘mongoloids’. The video was uploaded on Google by a user with the screen name of ‘Giulia Lisa’ on September 2006. The person who posted the video was not charged in this case, and his/her identity was not revealed during the proceedings. Further, ‘Giulia Lisa’ was not called to testify about the privacy terms stated by Google. Google removed the video two hours after they were notified by the police of the privacy violation. Before the video was removed, it attracted 5,500 hits, and it was ranked as the funniest video on Google Italia. It was rated 29th of the most downloaded videos on Google Italia. Importantly, as part of Google’s adwords feature, when videos are played on Google, advertising is placed on the margins around the screen. Videos are associated with categories or words entered in Google’s search engine. Advertisers are charged each time viewers click on the advertisers’ materials. Thus, Google is able to generate more advertising revenue with popular videos. The Court found that Drummond, De Los Reyes, and Fleischer were aware and condoned the use of the adwords program. The defendants were also attributed with the creation of Google’s privacy policies, and they were solely responsible for the compliance with applicable privacy laws.