An Italian court has convicted three Google executives in a trial over a video showing an autistic teenager being bullied¹.

因为谷歌上一段孤独症少年被欺负的视频，意大利一家法院判定三名谷歌主管有罪。

The Google employees were accused of breaking Italian law by allowing the video to be posted online.

Judge Oscar Magi absolved²（赦免，免除） the three of defamation³（中伤，诽谤） but convicted them of privacy violations⁴.

The UK's former Information Commissioner⁵ Richard Thomas said the case gave privacy laws a "bad name".

The three employees, Peter Fleischer, David Drummond and George De Los Reyes, received suspended six-month sentences, while a fourth defendant⁶（被告） , product manager Arvind Desikan, was acquitted⁷（无罪） .

David Drummond, chief legal officer at Google and one of those convicted, said he was "outraged⁸（气愤，愤慨） " by the decision.

'Ridiculous case'

"I intend to vigorously appeal this dangerous ruling. It sets a chilling（冷漠的，使人恐惧的） precedent," he said.

"If individuals like myself and my Google colleagues who had nothing to do with the harassing⁹ incident, its filming or its uploading onto Google Video can be held criminally liable solely¹⁰ by virtue¹¹ of our position at Google, every employee of any internet hosting service faces similar liability（责任，倾向） ," he added.

Peter Fleischer, privacy counsel at Google, questioned how many internet platforms would be able to continue if the decision held.

"I realise I am just a pawn¹²（典当，人质） in a large battle of forces, but I remain confident that today's ruling will be over-turned on appeal," he said.

Richard Thomas, the UK's former information commissioner and consultant¹³ to privacy law firm Hunton & Williams, said the case was "ridiculous".

"It is like prosecuting¹⁴ the post office for hate mail（攻击性信件，恐吓信） that is sent in the post," he told BBC News.

"I can't imagine anything similar happening in this country. The case wasn't brought by the Italian equivalent（等价的，想等的） of the information commissioner but by criminal prosecutors¹⁵ and we don't know their motives¹⁶.

"I find it worrying that the chief privacy officer who had nothing to do with the video has been found guilty. It is unrealistic to expect firms to monitor everything that goes online."

Seeking consent

The verdict is likely to have ramifications¹⁷（分枝，分叉） for content providers around the globe.

Google said at the trial that pre-screening all YouTube content was impossible.

The video at the centre of the case was posted on Google Video in 2006 shortly before the firm acquired YouTube.

Prosecutors argued that Google broke Italian privacy law by not seeking the consent of all the parties involved before allowing it to go online.

Google's lawyers said that the video was removed as soon as it was brought to its attention and that the firm also provided information on who posted it.

As a result four students were expelled from（驱逐，开除） their school in Turin, northern Italy.