Google might have paid off bullied boy

THE FATHER of a disabled boy who was filmed being insulted and tormented by four Italian youths has mysteriously withdrawn his lawsuit against Google.

Film of the incident which took place in Turin was was distributed around the World Wide Wibble using a Google service. Google pulled the video the moment it heard about it but it still got caught up in an Italian defamation suit.

Five executives of Google were accused of aggravated defamation and invasion of privacy and held responsible for the flick.

The boy's father, lawyer Michela Malerba, said that the decision to pull the case was because suing the Google Five would not provide any useful remedy.

The case will continue without the involvement of the boy and his father. The City of Milan has formed a civil party to the case which means that they have waded into Google too.

However, the Italian press seem to think that money has changed hands between Google and the boy's family, although this has been denied by the company.

It has told the press that, in addition to expressing sympathy for what happened, it was actively committed to demonstrating care and sensitivity to issues of persons with disabilities and to the serious phenomenon of bullying. µ

L'Inq
Quotidianonet