Google convictions in Italy based on legal error, says expert. Three Google executives were sentenced under Italy's privacy laws over the posting on Google Video of a clip showing a child with autism being bullied by other children.
The verdict was announced before the full judgment was published, leading some to fear that the case eroded the protections of the E-Commerce Directive in Italy. This EU law shields online service providers from liability for their users' actions but demands that they react when notified of law-breaking uses of their services. But Berlingieri has now studied the full ruling and said that the sentence was the result not of a failure to consider the Directive but of a judicial error in interpreting Italy's own privacy laws.
"The judgment acknowledges that, following the E-commerce Directive’s safe harbor rules, Google has no obligation to control what users do on its services," she said. "Nor can it be held responsible for its users' behaviour.
Italy orders Google to mark Street View cars: report. Google fined € 1 million for Street View data protection breach. Google has been sanctioned with a € 1 million fine by the Italian Data Protection Authority for breaches performed with reference to the recording of images necessary for Google Maps Street View service by their cars.
After the troubles faced in Spain where they faced a € 900,000 fine and in France where they received a € 150,000 fine, Google Maps Street View is causing further troubles to the company because of the images recorded by their cars in 2010 when people recorded were still recognisable in images then published on the service. At that time the Italian Data Protection Authority had challenged the lack of provision of a privacy information notice compliant with Italian law requirements to the people that might be recorded and the lack of appointment of a representative in Italy which is compulsory for non-EU entities, requiring a prior communication to the public by means of the press of the recording and making their cars clearly recognisable.