Google is on trial in Italy and once again the free and open Internet is up for debate.

Apparently a very inappropriate video surfaced and now Google executives are being “accused of defamation and violating privacy.”  Obviously Google is denying any wrong doing.  They claim responsibility is being placed on providers for content actually being uploaded by the users.  They liken it to prosecuting the postman for the content of hate speech letters being mailed.

Prosecutors are saying that they know Google can’t catch every inappropriate video.  They’re claiming Google just didn’t do enough of their part, ie. proper filters, user warnings, and not enough workers in Italy to react to user-flagged videos.

This case is an interesting one.  Internet censorship has come up in the mainstream media several times in the last year most recently in the China Olympics and the Iranian elections and proceeding demonstrations.  It’s also a hot issue because people KNOW that there are is a lot of material that is inappropriate on the Internet but there are also issues with the consequences of censorship.

Should the Internet be censored?  Obviously the Internet shouldn’t be used illegally.  However, each country has laws that are independent from the rest of the world.  In other words, what Americans see as free speech, Iran may see as illegal and therefore it should not only be filtered, but the wrongdoers need to be tracked down.

What should be illegal and who should enforce it?  And Google brings up a good point, should the postman be tried and if not, then who?  Feel free to tell me your thoughts in the comments!