Google convicted in Italy, under investigation in Europe and in their final stages of Chinese business.

Google announced in a blog post early Wednesday that three of its employees in Italy have been convicted of violating Italian privacy laws. The case dates back to 2006 when school children in Turin, Italy filmed themselves bullying a 17-year old boy with Down Syndrome and uploaded the evidence to Google Video. The search giant complied with requests from Italian police to remove the bullying video, but not before it received about 12,000 views online. After the video was taken down, Google says it also helped police find the perpetrators.

Italian prosecutors decided to hold Google responsible for the video by charging four Google executives with defamation and failing to protect the privacy of the boy with Down Syndrome. The charge of defamation was ultimately dismissed, and Google says it will appeal the conviction of its four employees.

Google points out in its blog post, the message these convictions send is particularly troubling. If Web sites were held accountable for every piece of user-generated content, then many aspects of the Web most users abuse including social networks, blogs, and video and photo sharing sites would be severely threatened.

In short Google continue to support the illegal use of the internet due to the profit that is generated by false reports, the vistimization of individuals, and the current surge in moronic web postings creating a false sensationalist web.

Imagine if every blog owner could be hauled before a judge for comments left on their blogs, or if Twitter was sued every time someone was slandered via the microblogging service, at that point we may see a Web with some credibility.

It will be interesting to see if Google can successfully overturn the conviction, or whether the concept of holding Web-based services accountable for the actions of its users will spread beyond Italy, I, for one certainly hope it does.

Google revealed on Wednesday that it has also come under scrutiny from antitrust regulators in Europe, after three companies complained about its growing market power in online search and advertising.

The complaints to the European Commission, including one from a company closely linked to Google’s archrival Microsoft, signal rising frustration among competitors with Google’s strength in the online advertising business.

In a statement posted on its corporate website, Google said the commission had begun a preliminary investigation.

“While we will be providing feedback and additional information on these complaints, we are confident that our business operates in the interests of users and partners, as well as in line with European competition law,” the company said.

Formal investigation pending

In Brussels, the commission confirmed it had received three complaints against Google and said it was examining them. The commission said it had asked Google to comment on the allegations earlier this month, but had “not opened a formal investigation for the time being.”

It also said it was cooperating with national regulators in Europe that are already looking into Google’s market power.

Google faces an antitrust investigation in Italy stemming from complaints by newspaper publishers, who say the company unfairly hampers them from earning money from online advertising. Regulators in Germany are looking into similar complaints, and a government-commissioned panel in France recently urged regulators to begin a separate inquiry.

In some European countries, Google has a more than 80 percent share of the market for Internet searches and advertising linked to them – greater even than in the United States. European Commission officials had said in the past, however, that market dominance is not, in and of itself, sufficient cause for antitrust sanctions.

Over the past decade, European regulators have fined other American technology giants like Microsoft and Intel billions of dollars for violating antitrust laws, sometimes prompting anger in Washington.

“As Google has grown, we’ve not surprisingly faced more questions about our role in the advertising ecosystem and our overall approach to competition,” the company said. “This kind of scrutiny goes with the territory when you are a large company.”

Leave American companies alone

The complaints also throw a spotlight on Joaquim Almunia, the new E.U. competition commissioner, who was previously in charge of enforcing rules governing the European monetary union, particularly with the problems plaguing Greece.

Speaking last week in Paris, Mr. Almunia said he would strive to coordinate antitrust policy with his American counterparts wherever possible to avoid conflicts over how companies should be regulated in the Internet era.

Christine Varney, the head of the antitrust division at the United States Justice Department, speaking at the same event, nonetheless warned the European regulators to restrict imposing obligations on American companies that are doing business globally.

Shayne Heffernan www.livetradingnews.com

Posted by Shayne Heffernan on Feb 25th, 2010and filed underEurope, Latest News.You can follow any responses to this entry through theRSS 2.0You can leave a response by filling following comment form or trackback to this entry from your site