Three Google executives have been convicted of violating privacy laws after footage of a disabled Italian boy being bullied was posted on the internet. The case was the first of its kind in internet history and had raised concerns over web freedom. Lawyers for California based Google had argued that regulation would be impossible as it would have to preview thousands of hours of footage before it was uploaded every day onto sites like YouTube. The trial centred on footage posted on Google Videos, of a teenager suffering from Down's syndrome and who was being bullied by four other boys, at a Turin school. The footage was uploaded in September 2006 where it shot up to number one in the most viewed section and remained there for two months before finally being removed. Prosecutors in Milan brought the case after being contacted by charity Viva Down and argued that the boys privacy had been violated and that Google should have removed the footage quicker than it eventually did. In the footage the boy was seen cowering as he was punched and kicked before one of the youths attacking him made a mocking call to the Viva Down charity. The three executives found guilty by judge Oscar Magi were David Carl Drummond, former Google Italy and now senior vice president, George De Los Reyes, a retired financial executive and privacy director Peter Fleischer. The three were found guilty of violating privacy and given six month suspended sentences, while they were cleared of defamation. A fourth executive Arvind Desikan, an executive with Google video Europe was cleared. None of the four were in court for the behind closed doors hearing which had begun two years ago and the judge ruled that the verdict should be published in leading Italian newspapers. A claim for compensation from Viva Down was rejected as the executives were found not guilty of defamation while at an earlier hearing the victim's family also withdrew a claim for damages. The events in the footage took place shortly before Google bought YouTube in 2006 and all four med denied wrong doing. The four bullies were identified and later convicted in a youth court. Source: Telegraph