Three Google executives have been convicted in Italy for violating the privacy of an Italian boy with autism.
The court ruled that the men violated the boy's privacy by letting a video of him being bullied be posted on the site in 2006 and handed down six-month suspended sentences.
Senior vice-president and chief legal officer David Drummond, former Google Italy board member George De Los Reyes and global privacy counsel Peter Fleischer were convicted.
Senior product marketing manager Arvind Desikan was acquitted.
Google, which will appeal the sentences in Italy, also heard that European Union anti-trust regulators were looking into complaints about it from three online firms.
Google said it was confident it would avoid formal investigation by the European Commission.
It said the Milan verdict 'poses a crucial question for the freedom on which the Internet is built' as none of its employees had anything to do with the video.
'They didn't upload it, they didn't film it, they didn't review it and yet they have been found guilty,' said Google's senior communications manager Bill Echikson.
The US embassy in Rome has backed Google, saying that it was disappointed by the decision and seeming to draw an analogy with limits on Internet freedoms in China.
'We disagree that Internet service providers are responsible prior to posting for the content uploaded by users,' it said.
'Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made clear on 21 January (with regard to China) that a free Internet is an integral human right that must be protected in free societies.'
None of the men were in Italy for the hearing. Mr Drummond is based in California, Mr Fleischer in Paris and Mr Desikan in London, while Mr De Los Reyes has since retired.
The complaint was brought by an Italian advocacy group for people with Down Syndrome, Vivi Down, and the boy's father, after four classmates at a Turin school uploaded a clip to Google Video showing them bullying the boy.
Vivi Down was a plaintiff because it was named by the boys in the video, a lawyer for the group said.
However, Mr Echikson and the prosecutor said that the boy had autism, not Down's as widely reported during the three years of the case.
Google argued that it removed the video immediately after being notified and cooperated with Italian authorities to help identify the bullies and bring them to justice.
