Last week top Google execs were named in an Italian court for hosting a video that showed Italian teens abusing a classmate with learning difficulties. Now one of the search engine’s properties is again in the limelight for all the wrong reasons.
The video sharing platform YouTube hosted a video which showed a masked teenager repeatedly slamming a cat against the walls of a shower then punching the cat. The animal abuse culminated in the perpetrator holding the cat by its neck under the shower whilst the accomplice camera operator switched it on.
Unlike the previous video hosted on the Italian language Google Video site which was active for months, this video was identified and removed swiftly. There was widespread outrage from other users of YouTube, spreading across blogs and chat rooms, however this time the animosity was focussed against the sick actions of the perpetrators.
The response was so overwhelming that certain cyber detectives began using the YouTube profile information of the self confessed animal abuse enthusiasts. Other social network websites listed more specific profile information including what town they lived in, which enabled local law enforcement to take the two teen brothers into custody.
So why are local authorities not taking action against YouTube or Google for hosting the video, as per the Italian case? The international laws governing video hosting sites as internet service providers state that the third party hosting platform is not responsible for content, however if complaints are received on content they must take action.
Technically Google followed international law in the case of the Italian saga however the Italians decided that Google Video was not an internet service provider but an internet content provider, meaning Google are responsible for the content posted. There has been no ambiguity regarding this latest video shocker in the US and the system seems to have worked.
The teen brothers live in the Lawton area of Oklahoma and are being prosecuted for two counts of animal cruelty against the same cat, named Dusty. Harming or killing animals is often cited as an initial stage in the pathology of a serial killer so hopefully the teen brothers will get the help they need to prevent them from spiralling too far down that path.
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