Internet giant Google was today convicted of invading privacy in a test case over a video posted online.
Three executives from the company were found guilty in the Italian case involving film of an autistic boy being attacked by school bullies.
Judge Oscar Magi gave them six-month suspended sentences but cleared them of defamation charges.
Google called the decision "astonishing" and said it would appeal.
"The judge has decided I'm primarily responsible for the actions of some teenagers who uploaded a reprehensible video to Google video," the company's global privacy counsel Peter Fleischer, who was convicted in his absence.
The trial could help define whether the internet in Italy is an open, self-regulating platform or if content must be better monitored for abusive material.
Google, based California, said it considered the trial a threat to freedom on the internet because it could force providers to attempt an impossible task - pre-screening the thousands of hours of footage uploaded every day onto sites like YouTube.
"We will appeal this astonishing decision," a Google spokesman said. "We are deeply troubled by this decision. It attacks the principles of freedom on which the internet was built."
Convicted of privacy violations along with Fleischer were Google's senior vice president and chief legal officer David Drummond, retired chief financial officer George Reyes.
Prosecutors had insisted the case was not about censorship but about balancing the freedom of expression with the rights of an individual.
Prosecutor Alfredo Robledo said he was satisfied with the decision and that Google will now have to consider better monitoring its video.
The charges were sought by Vivi Down, a support group for people with Down syndrome. It alerted prosecutors to the 2006 video showing an autistic student in Turin being beaten and insulted by bullies at school. In the footage, the youth is being mistreated while one of the teenagers puts in a mock telephone call to Vivi Down.
Google Italy, which is based in Milan, eventually removed the video, although the two sides disagree on how fast the company reacted to complaints. Thanks to the footage and Google's cooperation, the four bullies were identified and sentenced by a juvenile court to community service.
The events preceded Google's 2006 acquisition of YouTube.
All four executives, who were tried in their absence, denied the charges. None was in any way involved with the production of the video or uploading it onto the viewing platform, but prosecutors argued that it shot to the top of a most-viewed list and should have been noticed.