• by Wendy Davis , Staff Writer @wendyndavis, February 3, 2009

Italy's inexplicable decision to bring criminal proceedings against Google executives highlights the stark contrast between U.S. law and laws in the rest of the world. It also calls into focus the growing hurdles faced by Web companies that have developed a global presence.

Google's chief privacy officer Peter Fleischer, chief legal counsel David Drummond, former CFO George Reyes and a fourth executive are being prosecuted in Milan because the company hosted a three-minute video showing teens bullying a 17-year-old boy with Down syndrome. Needless to say, the Google executives hauled into court didn't upload the clip themselves, or even know of it, until the company received complaints. Nonetheless, they now face up to three years in jail.

The U.S. views freedom of speech as so important that it protects Web publishers from liability for material uploaded by users. While users themselves are still responsible for their crimes, sites like YouTube don't face liability for hosting the videos. Without the U.S. Communications Decency Act, which generally protects Web hosts from liability, a broad array of Internet companies would have long ago been sued out of existence.

EU law also provides that Internet service providers aren't liable for material uploaded by users. But that law appears to conflict with a separate Italian statute that allows courts to find Web publishers guilty of criminal defamation and privacy violations based on user-generated clips.

The International Association of Privacy Professionals reported Monday afternoon that the Italian authorities have accused Google executives of criminal defamation and privacy violations based on hosting the video. In the U.S., even without the Communications Decency Act, Google executives wouldn't face prosecution for comparable charges because media companies can generally publish anything they want as long as it's true.

A court in Milan, originally slated to hold proceedings today, adjourned the case until Feb. 18. None of the four executives appeared today, and it's not clear that they will appear in the future -- despite Google's statement that the company intends to defend the case. Certainly someone like Reyes, who is based in the U.S. and no longer works at Google, has little incentive to voluntarily appear in court in Italy. It seems extremely unlikely that a U.S. court would order his extradition to face prosecution for something that wouldn't be a crime in this country.