(If you're curious enough that you want to skip the background info, start reading at the Google logo.)
Admittedly, government regulation of the the mass media has always been rather controversial—especially in the Information Age, with all of its new media-related technologies (perhaps most notably, the Internet).
But I think it's safe to say that, as the government regulates and deregulates (whichever way the wind is blowing), most people can get on with their lives without following this debate too closely. This is because most regulations and deregulations either don't directly affect the media product (for instance, a lot of regulations define what a corporation can own) or bring about really subtle changes (like what kind of advertising can appear in children's programming). So most people, myself included, don't usually feel the force of media regulation sharply enough to pay it much attention.
But, if certain Italian politicians have their way, that all may change.
According to the New York Times article "Larger Threat Is Seen in Google Case" by Rachel Donadio, in Italian courts, after a high-stakes battle—the Italian government vs three Google executives—the courts just declared a victor: Italy. (Doesn't surprise me too much, since there was an obvious home court advantage.)Italy—and in particular its media-controlling Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi—had accused Google of being too slow to remove an offensive video (of teenagers bullying a kid with autism) from its system. And the courts ruled that the three executives were personally responsible for that video, even though they didn't make it, didn't promote it, probably didn't even watch it before this case brought it to their attention—they managed the site that listed it as a search result, and according to the Italian judicial system that was enough to make them liable for it.
As you may have guessed, the real significance of this ruling isn't about autism or discrimination, but about setting the precedent of holding a website accountable for the content that it makes available. In other words, what this case accomplished was to say that any site that hosts or searches content is responsible for that content.
And that's a big deal. That's talking about everything from search engines and file-sharing sites to blogging platforms and social networking sites. If this precedent is applied across the board, these kinds of sites will have to monitor every single video, picture, website, etc. that crosses through their systems. So the YouTube staff will either have to watch every single video that gets uploaded; the Google people will have to read every single website that you can find through their search engine; Facebook will have to monitor every single profile, video, picture, etc.; you get the picture. With the amount of content that gets added to these sites every minute, a job like that is practically impossible.
So, in order to conform to expectations like Italy is trying to set, websites like these would have to find some way to restrict their content. Maybe you'd have to pay to use Facebook and YouTube. Maybe Google would only search a few sites. Whatever would happen, it'd change the face of the Internet.
Now, personally, I don't really think that anything so drastic is going to happen. Since Berlusconi is essentially trying to control Italy's media, Italy seems to be a bit of a special case—I don't think many (or any) countries will follow suit. Maybe I'm shortsighted, but it seems to me that, at least for the forseable future, websites like that are here to stay.
And as for the ruling itself, I honestly think it's absurd. Whenever I see something I find offensive in a search engine, I don't blame the search engine—I blame whoever put it online! And, for goodness sake, if someone writes something rude on Facebook, I don't hold Facebook accountable.
I don't think search engines and sites that host users' content should be any more liable for what you can find on them than a TV set is liable for the programs you can watch on it.
But maybe you disagree. Do you disagree? Agree? Feel free to have your say in that comment box below.
Peace,
Blogdor
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