Social Media Me

Google are in hot water, and in this particular circumstance it’s hard to see where the boundaries between a liberalized social media and individual rights to privacy are marked in the sand.  Google are now in court in Italy due to a video published in 2006. 

Peter Fleischer the head of Google/s Privacy was nabbed in Italy to answer questions relating to a video that was taken in a Turn classroom of a in 2006.  In the Video a boy with Down syndrome is repeatedly hit with a tissue box.  The poor kid was being bullied and the sick little freaks were filming it, one would guess for a laugh.  

Although the video was taken down within 24 hours of getting the complaint officials in Italy are considering charges against Google as an Internet content provider.  This brings to the table a moral question  Should the kids privacy be ultimately respected or is the fact that the little shits that bullied him being exposed by their actions the greater victory?

Personally I think the Childs privacy wins out, but by implementing this you effectively write off the viability of sites that rely on user generated content. It also means that online content providers accepting any type of user generated content need to seriously consider implementing stringent processes to ensure videos are not published if they have the ability to infringe a users privacy.

Right now there are technologies developing that will automatically scan video content audio and potentially highlight offensive material but even then this won’t ever be a catch all solution.  What it does make clear is that with the vast amount of user generated content on the web will need to be controlled, monitored and filtered and that this is going to be a huge growth market. Google have stressed that they are please that as result of their co-operation the bullies in the video have been identified and punished.

Google are also stating that the case is equivalent  to prosecuting mail service employees for hate speech letters sent in the post. I personally agree – sorry that the kid was bullied but my mind swings back to the video of the Egyptian political dissenter being tortured by having a police baton rammed forcibly up his chuff – this was on CNN and BBC within a few hours – as a result I think the benefit outweighs the privacy issue.  As long as users can complain and their complaints are quickly and effectively researched than I think its sufficient until suitable filtering technology can be adopted.  
It’s a tricky one – look forward to hearing your views.  Are Google the good guys or the bad guys in this Italian court case?

Comments (2)

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written by rouba, June 23, 2009

Was just referred to this article from Twitter

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Privacy issues are very important, especially nowadays with all the new means available to all, allowing virtually anyone to break boundaries of decency.

However, I think that the problem here is not privacy.

It is bullying.

Did the fact that potentially millions saw the bullying make this whole experience more harmful? (in this case the video was removed almost immediately assuming millions viewed it could be far fetched, although popular videos spread like the flu! Anyway)...

Does that mean if the bullying was not recorded and shared on Google, it would have been less harmful?

I don't think so. Bullying is as damaging even if it's only known to the bully and the victim.

Public humiliation may add insult to injury, yes, but the real problem, the real crime is the bullying. Whether it is done face to face or online is irrelevant. Just like schools cannot always keep an eye on what's happening in their hallways, Google cannot keep track of every video (or other) posted. Just like in schools, when there's a complaint, actions are taken. And in this case Google acted promptly. Actually they should be thanking Google for revealing the bullies.

Technologies are nothing but carriers. It's people who make the crimes. Nobody would think of suing a knife manufacturer just because someone would have used their product to kill. I've been reading a lot about teenagers bullied on blogs and social networks, and even about one girl who committed suicide after being humiliated online. Apparently she received a large number of insults on her own blog and was so hurt she couldn't take all the cruelty.

Privacy regulations are stated very clearly on all social media sites. When these rules are broken, measures are taken. This is justice.

(I only wish that the bullies being punished would serve as a lesson and would actually deter others from recording and posting such videos, but it would be too good to be true, right? One can only hope that administrators of such sites act promptly and severely... As for hoping that all people exercise some sort of decency - and compassion - and refrain from bullying altogether, well that would be utopia...)

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written by Alex, June 23, 2009

mmm - I think without the video the kids would have got away with it. Freedom of the Media and the Internet is too important.

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