Did Google Ignore A Takedown On The Italian Video? | Techdirt

Did Google Ignore A Takedown On The Italian Video? Techdirt 8 March 2010

Apart from the issue of establishing the facts, the question is can Google be criminally liable? It may sound harsh, but the context of criminal liability has evolved over the past ten years. The biggest sources of privacy violations are within the corporate world with the databases corporations collect, hold and misuse, or because of information they make available. Offenders are not simply individuals. There is a 'collective' responsibility at corporate level and one can see that with the English debate on corporate crime. Except that the English debate is extremely restricted as we focus on manslaughter, whereas France allows for corporate liability for any offence. The question that springs to mind is actually whether Italian law sanctioned the three men as individuals or as representants/agents of Google the corporations.
The usual critic about the take down notice and the absence of a court judgment still holds.

See also "Google and YouTube should put own houses in order Charles Arthur" The Guardian, 1 March 2010, who argues that Google should be more consistent in its take-down policy rather than harrowing on lack of freedom of expression