[FC-discuss] Four Google managers condemned in Italy over bullying video.

AF af529 at york.ac.uk
Sat Feb 27 14:27:57 EST 2010 

      Four Google managers condemned in Italy over bullying video.


In 2007 a couple of young students attending a school in Turin beat both
using words and physical violence a disabled kid. A series of insults,
blows and a cigarette were reversed upon the helpless student who just
stood there in despair. These kind of situations usually arise in
Italian schools when the teacher is not present because she is ill,
absent or just somewhere else and the classroom is kept with the door
closed in order to avoid noise in the hallways. Similar situations,
unfortunately, are somewhat common, to a less severe degree, in the
middle and high school environments. Perhaps due to unsupervised and not
followed transformations in the character of a student. This time was
different because the technology available and used allowed a far
greater public to discover the abuses – which would have probably
remained untold if the context remained solely the classroom. A
cellphone equipped with video recording capabilities was used by a
student to record what was happening in the classroom and, light
heartedly, post it on Google Video. Once the Police informed Google
headquarters in Italy the video was removed and the company collaborated
with the government to find those responsible. Having considered this
Google thought of being in the clear of any misdoing. Apparently not.
After charges of privacy infringement, judges have found guilty four
Google managers and sentenced them do jail for periods around 1 year. 


This sentence undermines the principle of open internet, making the
provider responsible for user generated content. The outcome of this
trial seems perhaps controversial if not hypocritical at least
considering the situations of the Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, who
is under multiple trials ranging from corruption to conflict of
interest, without forgetting the scandals around his coalition. A quick
example is the senator Di Girolamo, of the People for Freedom, who has
been caught on tape arranging Sicilian Mafia emissaries in Strasbourg to
manipulate the blank votes of Italians living abroad. This operation
elected Di Girolamo to the Senate. The Senate has not yet agreed to his
arrest. With the vote rigging case the direct interest in the matter
might be primarily Italian, whereas the Google ruling has an impact far
beyond our nation boundaries. 


In Italy judges should be respected not only for representing the Res
Publica but also for being underfunded and under constant attack by the
ruling party officials.


Having asserted that, a criticism of myopic behaviour must be attributed
to the judges handling the Google case, since they – perhaps a bit
behind in understanding technology – punished the Mountain View company
for privacy infringement under the same laws that newspapers and TV have
to abide too. Google is not a newspaper or a TV station, it is a
platform where the user has the possibility to input any type of
material – a free system where you pay with a part of your personal life
for the service provided*. An architecture far different and more
dynamic, unlike the customer locked in systems just mentioned. 


If I am driving a Focus and I cause an accident and kill 10 people, you
don't go banging on the door of Ford asking for compensation. Viceversa,
this reasoning has been adopted by the judges. It's Google fault that it
allowed the video to be uploaded without the consent of the person being
recorded. The ruling fails to address this point correctly, thus
creating a dangerous precedent, in a moment where Berlusconi's
government is trying to pass laws restricting the internet, helping
corporations in fighting copyright with law suites and keeping Italians
locked on to a one-to-many relationship with culture, politics and
information. These bill propositions have the goal to protect
Berlusconi's TV stations, newspapers and publishing companies from being
damaged by the advent and revolution of the internet.


The future of the internet in Italy seems to be undermined by acts which
will reduce its openness and wide accessibility, today a web generated
movement, called “Movimento Viola” or Purple Movement, gathered in one
of the main squares in Rome, to call for fairer politics, to protest for
Berlusconi and less corruption. The 25000 people present signed up
online and through internet based fundraising were able to repay the
costs of the rally. In the actions of these movements that do not take
any public funding our hopes rest for a better government, non
liberticidal internet policies and jail for corrupted officials.


                                              Article by Andrea Fassina.


*Topic from
http://archiviostorico.corriere.it/2010/febbraio/26/privacy_merce_vendere_Internet_co_9_100226048.shtml


On Sat, 2010-02-27 at 12:00 -0500, discuss-request at freeculture.org
wrote:
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> Today's Topics:
> 
>    1. Re: Yale switching to Google Apps / Gmail (Matthew Senate)
> 
> 
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> Message: 1
> Date: Fri, 26 Feb 2010 17:27:30 -0800
> From: "Matthew Senate" <mattsenate at berkeley.edu>
> Subject: Re: [FC-discuss] Yale switching to Google Apps / Gmail
> To: "Discussion of Free Culture in general and this organization in
> 	particular" <discuss at freeculture.org>
> Message-ID:
> 	<f0e6d753d04fa7d411a60e434a97503b.squirrel at calmail.berkeley.edu>
> Content-Type: text/plain;charset=utf-8
> 
> Glad to hear it Adi,
> 
> Keep up the good work--don't allow this victory to fizzle out the movement.
> 
> Maybe come up with a list of terms required for student satisfaction--or a
> "bill of student email/app rights" that the campus could adopt or use as a
> guideline?
> 
> Keep us posted on what you all are up to!
> 
> - Matt
> 
> > Update:
> >
> > Just got word that Yale has *delayed* their Gmail/Gapps program, and the
> > administration will open up to the community for arguments and concerns.
> > Our
> > actions made them realize they have more to think about than they
> > originally
> > realized. Students + (angry) CS professors = effective combo!
> >
> > -Adi
> >
> >
> > On Tue, Feb 16, 2010 at 1:28 PM, Matthew Senate
> > <mattsenate at berkeley.edu>wrote:
> >
> >>
> >> http://wiki.freeculture.org/FCX/Unconference/Google_eating_or_providing_University_services
> >>
> >> will add more later. i encourage other attendees to do so as well.
> >>
> >> > Hey Alex,
> >> >
> >> > Alex Kozak <akozak at berkeley.edu> writes:
> >> >
> >> >> I'd love to have a conversation about this at the conference... would
> >> be
> >> >> interesting to hear everyone's perspective. I think this is a great
> >> >> debate
> >> >> to have.
> >> >>
> >> >
> >> > Unfortunately I missed the conference this year. Did any conversation
> >> > about it happen?
> >> >
> >> >> John you know I agree with the ideals of free software, but I think I
> >> >> have a
> >> >> more pragmatic view when it comes to Google. Does the increased risk
> >> to
> >> >> "corporate interference" and  reduced autonomy outweigh the potential
> >> >> benefits of these technologies? For a school without any
> >> collaboration
> >> >> systems, and little capacity to deploy one, the Google option would
> >> >> clearly
> >> >> be a net win for education and the university's mission to educate.
> >> And
> >> >> it
> >> >> would be a win for free culture in that the capabilities for
> >> >> collaboration
> >> >> and learning presented by the internet are being harnessed by the
> >> >> institutions who could most benefit from their use.
> >> >>
> >> >
> >> > I understand the appeal of this argument, but it accepts the status
> >> quo
> >> > as a given, ignoring the leadership role that universities have
> >> > (imperfectly) had, and what they are capable of. The university has
> >> the
> >> > choice to either be part of the demand for freedom or to instead
> >> support
> >> > lack of freedom and expect someone else to take the leadership role. I
> >> > sure am glad universities continued the growth of the Internet and
> >> > standardized email instead of going the direction of private AOL-like
> >> > networks.
> >> >
> >> > As Asheesh points out, to require Google Services is to require
> >> student
> >> > and faculty disclosure of their academic work and communications to
> >> both
> >> > the government and a corporation. This does strike me as a much more
> >> > sinister kind of corporate interference than hanging sponsorship
> >> banners
> >> > up in the student union or the like. It also means relying on code
> >> that
> >> > no one at the university has ever seen, so it means simply trusting a
> >> > corporation to do the right thing.
> >> >
> >> > I think your way of framing this also creates a much wider technology
> >> > gap than there is. Google services obviously have features that add
> >> > appeal, but let's be honest about what the actual damage to the
> >> > university's mission from not making their use *mandatory* is, and
> >> let's
> >> > also remember that the largest successful collaborative writing and
> >> > research project in history is run using exclusively free software...
> >> >
> >> >> I definitely agree that other things being equal a floss solution is
> >> >> preferable over Google. And think it's even inevitable that free
> >> >> software
> >> >> will compete with Google apps-like services. But in the meantime
> >> should
> >> >> schools not be encouraging the use of new technology until the floss
> >> >> solution is as optimal as Google?
> >> >>
> >> >
> >> > There's no "in the meantime" in the current way these decisions are
> >> > being made -- to adopt Google services is to actively undercut and
> >> work
> >> > against the demand for free software solutions (which may or may not
> >> be
> >> > services in the traditional sense). Universities are large and slow.
> >> If
> >> > they change to Google now, they aren't going to want to change again
> >> to
> >> > a free software system in 3 years, even if an awesome one does exist.
> >> >
> >> > We also can't impose the "in the meantime" rationale we wish were
> >> there
> >> > on the decision -- when the decision is made based on cost, that's the
> >> > rationale -- not this desire you're expressing to benefit
> >> collaborative
> >> > or free culture projects. Failing to oppose a decision made on a poor
> >> > rationale simply because an alternate rationale could justify it
> >> better
> >> > is a dangerous path to take. When a decision is at best
> >> pro-free-culture
> >> > because of incidental side effects, that's a deceptive and often
> >> harmful
> >> > kind of win.
> >> >
> >> > If universities were *actually* saying, "We're going to use Google
> >> > services now, because we need that functionality to support
> >> > collaboration, but we'll continue to support development of free
> >> > software alternatives with an eye toward re-acquiring our academic
> >> > independence in 2015," then this would be a much different discussion.
> >> >
> >> > From what I've seen, that's not what they're saying. What they're
> >> saying
> >> > is more akin to, "It's cheaper, and software is just part of the
> >> > infrastructure, like the air conditioning, and Google is popular."
> >> > That's not something we should be okay with.
> >> >
> >> > --
> >> > -John Sullivan
> >> > -http://wjsullivan.net
> >> > -GPG Key: AE8600B6
> >> >
> >> > _______________________________________________
> >> > Discuss mailing list
> >> > Discuss at freeculture.org
> >> > http://freeculture.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/discuss
> >> >
> >>
> >>
> >> _______________________________________________
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