Google Execs Could Face Charges By Italian Prosecutors

Well, I understand morality and preservation of ethics to levels that conform with civilized societies where the rights and the dignity of individual(s) must, as it should, be protected in rigorous terms.

However, the news that Italian prosecutors could press charges against four Google (GOOG) executives to stand trial over a video - which appeared on one of its sites, showing a disabled teenager in a classroom in the northern city of Turin, being taunted by his peers - besides being morally wrong as an argument - since Google execs had no involvement in the video incident, is also technically without any legal basis whatsoever. According to WSJ, EU legislation, adopted into law by Italy, “Google isn’t required to monitor third-party content on its sites, but takes down offending content when it is notified”.

Google removed the clip from the Google Video site within hours of administrators being notified of its existence in September, 2006.

Stefano Hesse, head of corporate communications for Google in Southern Europe, notes WSJ - said that Google has cooperated with Italian prosecutors from the beginning of the investigation and will continue to do so.

The insinuation that somehow, Google executives played a proactive role, whether it is by shooting or uploading the video - is simply wrong. There is no correlation in this case between moral or legal responsibilities of these individuals and their actions, since accountability rests strictly with the four youths, who actually filmed the event.