What Does the Criminal Conviction for Privacy Law Violations of Three Google Executives in Italy Mean for Multi-National Employers in the U.S.?
On February 24, 2010, a Milan court convicted Google’s Chief Legal Officer, Global Privacy Counsel, and a former member of Google Italy’s board of directors for violating Italian privacy law and imposed a six-month, suspended jail sentence. The case stemmed from a posting on Google Video® — a YouTube® predecessor — of a video depicting several teenagers bullying a classmate with Down’s Syndrome. Although the Google executives had no involvement in either the posting or in the decision whether and when to remove it, Italian law imposes criminal liability on senior executives for the actions of the corporation. Prosecutors alleged that Google should be held responsible not only for permitting the video to be posted in the first instance, but also for allegedly not having acted quickly enough to remove the video after receiving a complaint.
