Search Results for: google "street view" privacy

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Google‘s Street View ‘Mistake’ Gets Attention of 37 States

posted on July 22, 2010

Google has pushed the boundaries on just about everything they have done. As of late, their Street View escapades have created some serious ill will on most continents. While it seems that some of the trouble has cooled off a bit ( but not completely by any means) outside of the US it may just be heating up stateside.

According to the Wall Street Journal

The attorney general of Connecticut said 37 states have joined his investigation of Google Inc. and that he continues to seek information about whether privacy laws were broken when Google’s Street View vehicles collected personal data of unsuspecting Internet users.

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Switzerland’s Concerned Google‘s Street View Invades Privacy of Tax Evaders Citizens

posted on August 25, 2009

While Google’s Street View is mostly well received, there are still plenty of groups and countries that claim it’s an invasion of privacy.

You can add Switzerland to that list.

Poor Switzerland. It’s bad enough that it can no longer promise US tax evaders customers complete anonymity, now there’s a chance the faces of those customers–and Swiss citizens–could wind-up plastered on Google’s maps.

Less than one week after the launch of Street View, Hans-Peter Thur, Switzerland’s federal data protection and information commissioner (FDPIC) has called for the immediate removal of the feature.

As always, Google is “surprised” at the move…

“We have been engaged in constructive dialogue with the organization ahead of [last] week’s launch to demonstrate how we protect people’s privacy on Street View. And we’re ready to do so again or to answer any additional questions.”

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Google‘s Street Views Could Break Canada’s Privacy Laws

posted on September 13, 2007

There’s a good reason why you can’t yet get Google Maps’ new Street Views for locations in Canada–they’d likely break Canadian laws on privacy.

According to Reuters, Canada’s Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart wrote to Google in early August asking for more details on Street Views.

Canadian law obliges businesses wishing to disclose personal information about individuals to first obtain their consent. Stoddart said pictures of people on Street View were clear enough to be considered personal information.

“The images … appear to have been collected largely without the consent and knowledge of the individuals who appear in the images,” wrote Stoddart.

“I am concerned that, if the Street View application were deployed in Canada, it might not comply with our federal privacy legislation. In particular, it does not appear to meet the basic requirements of (the law).”

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Couple Sues Google for Street View Photos on Private Road

posted on April 4, 2008

We’ve heard all kinds of privacy concerns since Google Maps launched its Street View photos last May, most of which have had little legal merit. However, this week a new lawsuit about Street View images could change that.

Aaron and Christine Boring (yeah, seriously) of Pittsburgh, PA, are suing Google for posting images of their home which is located on a private road. The suit, filed Wednesday in Pennsylvania, asks for $25,000 in damages and the destruction of all photos of their home in all media (including film . . .). The suit does display a basic knowledge of the Street View program (other than the film part). It was filed on Wednesday (so this isn’t an April Fools’ joke).

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Google Street View Comes to Canada, Czech Republic

posted on October 8, 2009

Google Maps Street View continues its relentless march, despite privacy protests. Google has recently added two new countries to it quiver: Canada and the Czech Republic. Which will be the first to balk?

In Canada, they have added twelve cities in time for the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. And naturally, they focused on major metropolises. Metropolii. Uh .. . Anyway, the cities: Vancouver, Whistler (population: 9000), Squamish (population: 15,000! WTG), Banff (populations <7000), Calgary, Hamilton, Kitchener-Waterloo, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Quebec City and Halifax.

And, of course, no Street View would be complete without some strange photos—like a burning van Philipp Lenssen pointed out:
street view toronto

In the Czech Republic, they’ve focused mostly on Prague (ahoj, Praha!), although they did follow Highway D1 as far as Brno.

ahoj praha

street view prague2

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Google‘s Foreign Relations: Blocked in 25 Countries; 10 More Complain About Buzz Privacy

posted on April 20, 2010

As usual, Google is taking flak from both sides lately. They reported yesterday that of the 100 countries they offer products and services in, 25 countries block or filter one or more services. Search, Blogger, YouTube and even Google Docs are blocked in some countries, sometimes based on political or social filtering.

Meanwhile, ten more countries are complaining about Google allowing access to information in a different way—not protecting users’ privacy sufficiently with Buzz. Of course, this is nothing new, since Buzz has prompted privacy concerns since the day it rolled out.

We’ve already seen what Google is capable of in working against censorship, although they’ll continue to comply with democratic governments’ demands (such as removing pro-Nazi content from google.de and google.fr).

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Google Draws Ire of British Over Gross Invasion of Privacy

posted on October 25, 2010

It appears that if you are looking for real job security in today’s market you would want to be part of the Google legal team. Not only does everyone and their brother want to hit them up stateside in hopes of hitting a Legal Lotto payday but all around the world even governments are anxious to get a piece of the search giant’s cash.

The latest to chime in? The British who are none too happy about Google’s Street View shenanigans. For Google, Street View appears to be the business equivalent of an STD since ongoing legal issues will apparently be the gift that keeps on giving.

The Independent reports

Google faces being the first company to incur heavy fines under British privacy laws, after admitting downloading private emails and passwords.