A senior Google official could face up to three years in jail, after prosecutors in Italy arrested him as part of a two-year privacy case.
Peter Fleischer, the internet giant's global privacy counsel, will appear in a Milanese court today over allegations that the company failed to protect an Italian teenager who was the subject of a bullying video posted online.
The short film, which featured a 17-year-old boy with Down's syndrome being harassed by four other children, was uploaded to Google Video in September 2006. Two months later, following a complaint from an advocacy group, Italian authorities asked for the video to be taken down. It was removed by Google less than 24 hours later.
Despite the action, however, Italian officials argue that the company's failure to prevent it from ever hitting the internet was an invasion of the boy's privacy.
As a result prosecutors launched a case last year naming four Google employees, including Fleischer and the company's chief legal officer, David Drummond.
The company has continually rejected the claims that it should have acted earlier, suggesting that there is no legal reason it should be expected to pre-screen the millions of items uploaded to its servers via services such as Google Video, YouTube and Blogger.com.
"As we have repeatedly made clear, our hearts go out to the victim and his family. We are pleased that as a result of our cooperation the bullies in the video have been identified and punished," Google said in a statement yesterday.
"We feel that bringing this case to court is totally wrong. It's akin to prosecuting mail service employees for hate speech letters sent in the post."
Fleischer, who is based in Paris, was arrested after he gave a lecture at the University of Milan in January. He will appear at the Criminal Court of Milan today, facing a maximum penalty of 36 months in prison in a case that is expected to last several months.
According to the International Association of Privacy Professionals, where Fleischer was previously a board member, current European legislation stats that while ISPs not responsible for third-party content on their sites, they must remove content considered offensive if someone makes a complaint.
"It seems to me that the public prosecutors in Milan almost did not take into significant consideration legislation currently in force," it quoted Rocco Panetta, a former lawyer for the Italian data protection commission, as saying.
However, such arguments may not be enough to protect it from the Milanese authorities. Broadband and telephone providers are able to argue that they are not responsible for transmitted over their lines – what is known in UK law as a "mere conduit" defence.
However, the legal situation is less clear regarding website owners. In America, the company is being sued for $1bn by the media conglomerate Viacom, over allegations that it's failure to pre-screen YouTube videos encourages copyright infringement.
And internet companies have also experienced the manner in which can chase them across national borders – even if the actions it takes are legal within its own country.
In 2006, a change to the way that US gambling laws were applied led to the arrest of a number of British web entrepreneurs, including Sportingbet boss Peter Dicks and David Carruthers, the former chief executive of BetOnSports.com – who is still awaiting trial.