Italy Takes Aim at Google
Friday, November 24th, 2006 ROME (Reuters) - Italian prosecutors on Friday put two Google Italy representatives under investigation as part of an inquiry into how a video of teenagers harassing an autistic classmate surfaced on its Video site, a judicial source said.
The two are being investigated for allegedly failing to check on the content of the video posted on the Internet search engine’s Web site.
The video, which sparked outrage in the country, showed four teenagers beating and poking fun at a 17-year old disabled boy in a classroom in the northern Italian city of Turin.
Note especially
“I’ve said repeatedly that there can’t be double standards, one for the press and television and another for the Internet,” (Italy’s Education Minister Giuseppe Fioroni ) told ANSA news agency.
The Internet search engine shared the same duty as other forms of media in distributing “responsible” content, he said.