Google blamed for violent video in Italy

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Andy Oram <andyo () oreilly com>
Date: November 28, 2006 1:18:53 PM EST
To: dave () farber net
Subject: Google blamed for violent video in Italy

Following on the story of Newt Gingrich, this underreported item might
be interesting.

Andy Oram

------------

http://www.oreillynet.com/onlamp/blog/2006/11/ 
google_blamed_for_violent_vide.html

   When Google bought YouTube, lawyers and business analysts across  
the U.S.
   warned it would be swamped by lawsuits over copyright violations.  
Sounds
   scary enough-but what about facing criminal indictment for posting a
   violent video clip? On this basis, the Italian government has  
launched a
   criminal proceeding against Google and raided their Milan office,
   according to the Italian Internet anti-censorship organization ALCEI
   (http://www.alcei.org/).

   ALCEI's report of the event is currently posted at the top of their
   Italian home page, and will soon appear on the English home page.  
Like
   the U.S.-where multiple court rulings and a clause of the DMCA  
protect
   ISPs from content sent by users-Italy has a law called Directive  
31/00
   that should absolve Google of responsibility for the video in  
question.
   In fact, Google had already taken action on the video (a shocking  
film
   made by teenagers documenting their own violence against a disabled
   person) removing it before the indictment.

   ALCEI reports "a widespread concern in Italian mainstream media (and
   politics) about violence involving `minors'." But one has to be very
   careful in laying blame for the social ills on videos. What if
   governments could order the removal of the videos that seem to  
pop up
   every week showing violence by police? Removing one violent film  
leaves a
   precedent that suppresses discussion and understanding of that  
violence.

   Meanwhile, popular culture is awash in images of fake violence.  
And we
   have to hold back from applying research about the effect of  
violent TV
   shows on children to violent online videos. The online videos  
must be
   sought out, and therefore are likely to provoke copy-cat actions  
only
   among people already interested in such awful things. All around,  
the
   indictment of Google is a step in the wrong direction.


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