On Google, Italy and the Future of Media

Many electrons have been spilled in response to the recent Italian court decision that found several Google executives guilty of privacy violations, after a video was uploaded to Google Video that showed an autistic boy being tormented by bullies.

So is Google a media company? Or is it simply a form of Internet service provider, and therefore not directly responsible for the content it hosts? Such a distinction is crucial to the Italian decision. Google's primary business might be search and search-related ads and marketing, but with YouTube and Blogger and Buzz and other services in its stable, it's also part content provider. There's ample reason to believe that Google will be successful on appeal, and that Italy's decision is almost certainly an aberration. And it's possible that the case only arose because Italian Prime Minister Silivio Berlusconi sees Google and its services as a threat to his interests, since he controls the leading commercial broadcaster (as well as a number of newspapers and other assets) and also has considerable influence over the state broadcaster. But the principle is still an important one: If Google -- or any other media company, for that matter -- is held to the kind of standards that the Italian court is trying to impose, we will almost certainly lose a core element of what makes the web such a powerful force for freedom of thought, commentary and inquiry.