Google Street View privacy concerns
Encyclopedia
Privacy advocates have objected to the Google Street View
feature, pointing to photographs that show men leaving strip clubs, protesters at an abortion clinic, sunbathers in bikinis, cottagers
at public parks, people picking up prostitutes and people engaging in activities visible from public property in which they do not wish to be photographed and have published online. Google maintains that the photos were taken from public property. However, this does not take into account that the Street View cameras take pictures from an elevated position, enabling them to look over hedges and walls designed to prevent some areas from being open to public view. Before launching the service, Google removed photos of domestic violence
shelters, and it allows users to flag inappropriate or sensitive imagery for Google to review and remove. When the service was first launched, the process for requesting that an image be removed was not trivial,. Google changed its policy to make removal more straightforward, but has since removed the option to request removal of an image, replacing it by an option to request blurring of an image - an example of 'mission creep' towards increasingly intrusive information gathering. Images of potential break-ins, sunbathers, and individuals entering adult bookstores have, however, remained active and these images have been widely republished.
In Europe, the creation of Google Street View may not be legal in all jurisdictions. Some European countries have laws prohibiting the filming without consent of an individual on public property for the purpose of public display.
On May 14, 2010, Google revealed that its Street View cars had been inadvertently gathering private information about websites people accessed on public Wi-Fi
networks. The Australian Minister for Communications
, Stephen Conroy
, has stated that this has "been the largest privacy breach in the history across western democracies".
, the general rule (with some exceptions) is that there is no reasonable expectation of privacy
in a public place, thus implying that Google (and anyone else) is usually free to take photographs in public places.
However, one of Google's responses to concerns about privacy laws outside the United States has been a pledge to blur the faces of people who are filmed on Street View photos taken both inside and outside the U.S. Google began blurring faces on May 13, 2008 and the images published since then, including the first launch of images in Europe on July 2, 2008, have all used face blurring (this process is automated; as a result even facial images on posters and billboards are often blurred).
Google delayed the release of its Street Views of the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area
following concern expressed by the United States Department of Homeland Security
that some of the images taken might be of security-sensitive areas.
The Department of Defense
has banned Google from publishing Street View content of U.S. Military
bases and asked Google to remove existing content of bases. Google has complied with this order.
Some parents have expressed concern over Street View compromising the security of their children.
Aaron and Christine Boring, a Pittsburgh couple, sued Google for invasion of privacy. Street View made a photo of their home available online, and they claimed that this diminished the value of their house, which they had chosen for its privacy. They lost their case in a Pennsylvania court. "While it is easy to imagine that many whose property appears on Google's virtual maps resent the privacy implications, it is hard to believe that any – other than the most exquisitely sensitive – would suffer shame or humiliation," Judge Hay ruled. Since then the decision was reversed in part and on December 1, 2010 Magistrate Judge Bissoon ruled that Google is an intentional trespasser and the company was ordered to pay $1 to the Plaintiffs.
In August 2008, a Street View vehicle took a picture of a house on fire in Sherwood, Arkansas
. The people who lived in the house asked Google to remove this picture.
Some cities in the United States where all streets are privately owned have asked Google to remove Street View images because their consent was not given. North Oaks, Minnesota
may have been the first. In that case, Google complied.
In 2010, the Electronic Privacy Information Center
(EPIC) filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission
(FTC) stating that Google's admitted downloading of private wi-fi data constituted a violation of the US Wiretap Act and the Federal Communications Act. The FTC decided not to take up the complaint.
Documents subsequently obtained by EPIC under Freedom of Information Act
(FOIA) indicated, despite a request from Congress, that the FTC did not examine Google's data from private wireless networks before dropping the case. EPIC filed an administrative appeal with the FTC, challenging its decision, and in May 2011 EPIC filed a suit against the FTC for access to the documents on which the FTC's decision was based.
Star-Phoenix, complained in a March 28, 2009, column
that the timing of the imaging, at the end of a protracted winter season and before the true onset of spring would cast an unfavourable image of Saskatoon and other cities. "What worries me more than any loss of privacy is the prospect of presenting to the world a highly unflattering impression of Canadian cities. With the possible exception of Victoria
, they do not show off well in the spring. Google could not have picked a more inauspicious time to do its scanning. Saskatoon is unfortunately typical. For Google to record its images of the city at this most visually unappealing time of year is like photographing a beautiful woman who has just awakened from a six-month coma," he wrote. In early October 2009, the first Canadian cities began to appear on Street View; several, including Saskatoon, were not included in the initial roll-out. One city that was included, Calgary, included images taken in both summer and winter. Images of Saskatoon were rolled out on December 2, 2009.
More recently, several areas have had their pictures re-taken, for example, Toronto
. Toronto's old images appeared to have been taken in late October, but these new images appear to have been taken in late March, April and May, as evidenced by images where school bulletin boards indicate the month.
, Street View was banned in September 2010 by the Czech Office for Personal Data Protection after more than half a year of unsuccessful negotiation between the Czech Republic and Google. The Office described Google’s programme as taking pictures “beyond the extent of the ordinary sight from a street”, and that it “disproportionately invade citizens’ privacy.” However, pictures taken before this decision (mostly in 2009) may have remained available online but Google was obliged to erase every picture from that period should they be disputed. In May 2011, the ban was lifted.
In 2010, Google announced that it might cancel Google Street View service in the European Union due to unmanageable requests of the European Commission.
, a man vomiting and another man being arrested. Some images were removed including those of areas around Downing Street
.
The service drew criticism in Belfast
that it represented a "reckless" security risk, particularly for showing the exteriors of army bases and police stations so soon after the killing of two soldiers in the 2009 Massereene Barracks shooting
, and a police officer.
Soon after the launch human rights watchdog Privacy International
sent a formal complaint about the service to the UK Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), which cited more than 200 reports from members of the public who were identifiable on Street View images. Privacy International director Simon Davies said that the organization had filed the complaint due to the "clear embarrassment and damage" Street View had caused to many Briton
s. He said that Street View fell short of the assurances given by Google to the ICO in July 2008 that had enabled its launch, namely that privacy would be protected by blurring faces and vehicle licence plates, and asked for the system to be "switched off" while an investigation was completed. He said the few cases where Google's face blurring system had failed meant the data used by Street View would fall under UK Data Protection
legislation, which requires that subjects give permission for the use of information concerning them.
Davies subsequently sent an open letter to Google chief executive Eric Schmidt, accusing the company of briefing journalists against him, claiming Davies was biased in favour of Microsoft
. Google has pointed to connections between Microsoft and data protection consultancy 80/20 Thinking, run by Davies, and has said that Davies' connections to Microsoft should be made clear in public, as the credibility of his criticisms is undermined by the fact that he acts as a consultant to companies who are direct rivals and critics of Google, a fact Davies rarely discloses in press releases or comments.
However, on April 23, 2009, the Information Commissioner ruled that although Google Street View carries a small risk of privacy invasion it should not be stopped. They ruled that "There is no law against anyone taking pictures of people in the street as long as the person using the camera is not harassing people". They also ruled that Google Street View does not contravene the Data Protection Act, as an image of a house held on Street View is not a data protection matter, as data protection is about people's personal information.
On April 3, 2009, it was reported in the press that residents of the village of Broughton
in Buckinghamshire
formed a human barrier to stop a Google car from photographing the village, expressing fears that it was "invading the villagers' privacy" and "facilitating crime". As also reported in the press, contrary reactions have come from some Internet users, who have called on people to "descend on the village to snap their own perfectly legal photographs".
On May 21, 2009, Google Street's privacy issues got some attention in the tabloid
press, after it was revealed that Google's facial recognition technology
automatically blurred out the face of "The Colonel" on the shop signage of Kentucky Fried Chicken
stores "to protect his privacy", despite the fact that Harland David "Colonel" Sanders, upon whose image "The Colonel" is based, died in 1980. A spokesperson for Google defended the decision as "it shows how good our facial recognition technology is".
, Google's Global Privacy Counsel Peter Fleischer remarked that "public opposition to Google Street View in Germany, though not hysterical, had been tougher than in any other country." On the same occasion he stated that the project has now been "essentially aligned with the concerns of data privacy advocates," and that "specific privacy tools would be developed for the German launch while imaging continues at the fastest possible pace." The option to have specific images removed would also apply for locations in Germany.
German Foreign Minister and Vice Chancellor Guido Westerwelle
said "I will do all I can to prevent it." However, Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière
said that people should not get "hysterical" about the issue and called for "caution in introducing blanket rules allowing objections."
As of October 2010, 244,237 German households have opted out Street View. Google complied by blurring the facades on the corresponding Street View images. This procedure is misleadingly called 'pixelating
' in Germany (German: 'Verpixeln').
However, on January 18, 2010, the government legalized the service under the condition that the faces and other privacy details will be blurred.
prohibiting Google Street View. But in October 2010, despite this, Google Street View ceased operations in Australia, following months of investigations from Australian authorities. However on May 4, 2011, Google announced that they planned to begin production again and on July 27, 2011 the Street View imagery for Australian towns and cities were updated.
in February 2009. The available Street View areas depicted residential and business areas, and showed the faces of pedestrians, displayed vehicle registration plates, and the - Google's decision to show these has led to disputes. Local government
s, lawyers and individuals claimed Google was violating privacy. On February 3, 2009, Google Japan representatives attended a meeting about privacy concerns held at a Tokyo Metropolitan Government facility, and agreed that privacy issues had not been adequately considered. Google pledged that, before taking photographs for Street View, they would in future notify the provinces' local government. Google Japan admitted that notifications and explanations of this kind had already been taking place in countries other than Japan, but had not done so in Japan as they were not aware of the potential privacy concerns.
On May 13, 2009, Google Japan announced that it would modify their cameras to scan from a lower height of 2.05 meters above ground level, 95 centimeters lower than the original height of the camera head. The new height is intended to avoid having cameras view over fences in front of homes and into homes. This reduced height is to apply immediately, and all areas previously visited will be rescanned from the reduced height. Scans taken at the original height will remain available until they are replaced with the new images.
On November 11, 2011, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications
issued an administrative guidance
to Google Inc. that its collecting activity of Wi-Fi data were against the law of telecommunication which requests secrecy of communication, and requested to delete the recorded data, to take measures of preventing of recording the communication data, and to let it known publically in Japanese.
Google declares that the Project does not intend to compile information about specific individuals whose identities can be ascertained. Faces of passers-by and car licence plates in the photographs will be unidentifiable because blurring technology is to be used. Also, there will be at least a three month gap between image gathering and publication, to prevent the images being used to identify an individual's current whereabouts.
Google also assures the Commissioner that if anyone objects to any image of themselves, their cars, houses or children captured by the cameras, the related image will be removed.
The commissioner concluded that Google Street View does not breach Hong Kong privacy laws. But he will look seriously into any complaint made by an affected individual in accordance with the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance.
, but stated there would be additional forms of censorship not previously seen in other parts of the world out of concern for the religious and cultural beliefs of those residing in these countries, the laws of these countries, and security concerns. This would include, but not be limited to, the blacking out of all human bodies, license plates, and windows of all automobiles and structures, and the total omission of some security-sensitive sites, such as government buildings.
Google would start to film the Middle East some time in 2011 if all goes as planned. Only countries with which the United States has a peaceful relationship would be included. Some countries mentioned are Egypt
, Israel
, Jordan
, Morocco
, and Turkey
. In Israel, disputed territories and locations under rule of the Palestinian Authority would be excluded until further progress.
, India
, on May 26, 2011. A Google executive promised that they would do their best to avoid security concerns. However, on June 20, 2011, Street View was blocked in Bangalore due to security concerns from the police in Bangalore. Google officials and leaders from BJP, the ruling party in Karnataka
, organized a meeting on July 19, 2011, to continue Street View in Bangalore. The Google officials, however, failed to convince the leaders that they would not violate any privacy laws.
Google Street View
Google Street View is a technology featured in Google Maps and Google Earth that provides panoramic views from various positions along many streets in the world...
feature, pointing to photographs that show men leaving strip clubs, protesters at an abortion clinic, sunbathers in bikinis, cottagers
Cottaging
Cottaging is a British gay slang term referring to anonymous sex between men in a public lavatory , or cruising for sexual partners with the intention of having sex elsewhere...
at public parks, people picking up prostitutes and people engaging in activities visible from public property in which they do not wish to be photographed and have published online. Google maintains that the photos were taken from public property. However, this does not take into account that the Street View cameras take pictures from an elevated position, enabling them to look over hedges and walls designed to prevent some areas from being open to public view. Before launching the service, Google removed photos of domestic violence
Domestic violence
Domestic violence, also known as domestic abuse, spousal abuse, battering, family violence, and intimate partner violence , is broadly defined as a pattern of abusive behaviors by one or both partners in an intimate relationship such as marriage, dating, family, or cohabitation...
shelters, and it allows users to flag inappropriate or sensitive imagery for Google to review and remove. When the service was first launched, the process for requesting that an image be removed was not trivial,. Google changed its policy to make removal more straightforward, but has since removed the option to request removal of an image, replacing it by an option to request blurring of an image - an example of 'mission creep' towards increasingly intrusive information gathering. Images of potential break-ins, sunbathers, and individuals entering adult bookstores have, however, remained active and these images have been widely republished.
In Europe, the creation of Google Street View may not be legal in all jurisdictions. Some European countries have laws prohibiting the filming without consent of an individual on public property for the purpose of public display.
On May 14, 2010, Google revealed that its Street View cars had been inadvertently gathering private information about websites people accessed on public Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi or Wifi, is a mechanism for wirelessly connecting electronic devices. A device enabled with Wi-Fi, such as a personal computer, video game console, smartphone, or digital audio player, can connect to the Internet via a wireless network access point. An access point has a range of about 20...
networks. The Australian Minister for Communications
Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy (Australia)
The Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy is currently Senator the Hon Stephen Conroy. He replaced Senator the Hon Helen Coonan on 3 December 2007.-Portfolio:...
, Stephen Conroy
Stephen Conroy
Stephen Michael Conroy is an Australian politician and the current Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy in the Gillard Ministry...
, has stated that this has "been the largest privacy breach in the history across western democracies".
United States
In the law of the United StatesLaw of the United States
The law of the United States consists of many levels of codified and uncodified forms of law, of which the most important is the United States Constitution, the foundation of the federal government of the United States...
, the general rule (with some exceptions) is that there is no reasonable expectation of privacy
Expectation of privacy
In United States constitutional law the expectation of privacy is a legal test which is crucial in defining the scope of the applicability of the privacy protections of the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution...
in a public place, thus implying that Google (and anyone else) is usually free to take photographs in public places.
However, one of Google's responses to concerns about privacy laws outside the United States has been a pledge to blur the faces of people who are filmed on Street View photos taken both inside and outside the U.S. Google began blurring faces on May 13, 2008 and the images published since then, including the first launch of images in Europe on July 2, 2008, have all used face blurring (this process is automated; as a result even facial images on posters and billboards are often blurred).
Google delayed the release of its Street Views of the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area
Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area
The Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area is a combined statistical area consisting of the overlapping labor market region of the cities of Baltimore, Maryland and Washington, D.C.. The region includes Central Maryland, Northern Virginia, and Jefferson County in the Eastern Panhandle of West...
following concern expressed by the United States Department of Homeland Security
United States Department of Homeland Security
The United States Department of Homeland Security is a cabinet department of the United States federal government, created in response to the September 11 attacks, and with the primary responsibilities of protecting the territory of the United States and protectorates from and responding to...
that some of the images taken might be of security-sensitive areas.
The Department of Defense
United States Department of Defense
The United States Department of Defense is the U.S...
has banned Google from publishing Street View content of U.S. Military
United States armed forces
The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. They consist of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Coast Guard.The United States has a strong tradition of civilian control of the military...
bases and asked Google to remove existing content of bases. Google has complied with this order.
Some parents have expressed concern over Street View compromising the security of their children.
Aaron and Christine Boring, a Pittsburgh couple, sued Google for invasion of privacy. Street View made a photo of their home available online, and they claimed that this diminished the value of their house, which they had chosen for its privacy. They lost their case in a Pennsylvania court. "While it is easy to imagine that many whose property appears on Google's virtual maps resent the privacy implications, it is hard to believe that any – other than the most exquisitely sensitive – would suffer shame or humiliation," Judge Hay ruled. Since then the decision was reversed in part and on December 1, 2010 Magistrate Judge Bissoon ruled that Google is an intentional trespasser and the company was ordered to pay $1 to the Plaintiffs.
In August 2008, a Street View vehicle took a picture of a house on fire in Sherwood, Arkansas
Sherwood, Arkansas
Sherwood is a city in Pulaski County, Arkansas, United States, and a suburb of Little Rock. As of the 2010 census, the population of the city was 29,523...
. The people who lived in the house asked Google to remove this picture.
Some cities in the United States where all streets are privately owned have asked Google to remove Street View images because their consent was not given. North Oaks, Minnesota
North Oaks, Minnesota
North Oaks is a suburb north of Saint Paul in Ramsey County in the U.S. state of Minnesota. The population was 4,469 at the 2010 census.Formerly a gated community that now posts private access signage, all land is owned by homeowners with the North Oaks Home Owners Association maintaining all...
may have been the first. In that case, Google complied.
In 2010, the Electronic Privacy Information Center
Electronic Privacy Information Center
Electronic Privacy Information Center is a public interest research group in Washington, D.C. It was established in 1994 to focus public attention on emerging civil liberties issues and to protect privacy, the First Amendment, and constitutional values in the information age...
(EPIC) filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission
Federal Trade Commission
The Federal Trade Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, established in 1914 by the Federal Trade Commission Act...
(FTC) stating that Google's admitted downloading of private wi-fi data constituted a violation of the US Wiretap Act and the Federal Communications Act. The FTC decided not to take up the complaint.
Documents subsequently obtained by EPIC under Freedom of Information Act
Freedom of Information Act (United States)
The Freedom of Information Act is a federal freedom of information law that allows for the full or partial disclosure of previously unreleased information and documents controlled by the United States government. The Act defines agency records subject to disclosure, outlines mandatory disclosure...
(FOIA) indicated, despite a request from Congress, that the FTC did not examine Google's data from private wireless networks before dropping the case. EPIC filed an administrative appeal with the FTC, challenging its decision, and in May 2011 EPIC filed a suit against the FTC for access to the documents on which the FTC's decision was based.
Canada
While Canada, like other jurisdictions, has raised the issue of privacy concerns regarding Google Street View, the presence of Google cameras in one Canadian city in March 2009 gave rise to a different complaint. Les MacPherson, a columnist with the SaskatoonSaskatoon
Saskatoon is a city in central Saskatchewan, Canada, on the South Saskatchewan River. Residents of the city of Saskatoon are called Saskatonians. The city is surrounded by the Rural Municipality of Corman Park No. 344....
Star-Phoenix, complained in a March 28, 2009, column
Column (typography)
In typography, a column is one or more vertical blocks of content positioned on a page, separated by gutters and/or rules. Columns are most commonly used to break up large bodies of text that cannot fit in a single block of text on a page. Additionally, columns are used to improve page composition...
that the timing of the imaging, at the end of a protracted winter season and before the true onset of spring would cast an unfavourable image of Saskatoon and other cities. "What worries me more than any loss of privacy is the prospect of presenting to the world a highly unflattering impression of Canadian cities. With the possible exception of Victoria
Victoria, British Columbia
Victoria is the capital city of British Columbia, Canada and is located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of about 78,000 within the metropolitan area of Greater Victoria, which has a population of 360,063, the 15th most populous Canadian...
, they do not show off well in the spring. Google could not have picked a more inauspicious time to do its scanning. Saskatoon is unfortunately typical. For Google to record its images of the city at this most visually unappealing time of year is like photographing a beautiful woman who has just awakened from a six-month coma," he wrote. In early October 2009, the first Canadian cities began to appear on Street View; several, including Saskatoon, were not included in the initial roll-out. One city that was included, Calgary, included images taken in both summer and winter. Images of Saskatoon were rolled out on December 2, 2009.
More recently, several areas have had their pictures re-taken, for example, Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
. Toronto's old images appeared to have been taken in late October, but these new images appear to have been taken in late March, April and May, as evidenced by images where school bulletin boards indicate the month.
Czech Republic
In the Czech RepublicCzech Republic
The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....
, Street View was banned in September 2010 by the Czech Office for Personal Data Protection after more than half a year of unsuccessful negotiation between the Czech Republic and Google. The Office described Google’s programme as taking pictures “beyond the extent of the ordinary sight from a street”, and that it “disproportionately invade citizens’ privacy.” However, pictures taken before this decision (mostly in 2009) may have remained available online but Google was obliged to erase every picture from that period should they be disputed. In May 2011, the ban was lifted.
European Union
A recent demand from the European Union would require Google to warn local residents before sending out the cameras. It also requires Google to keep the unblurred versions of the photos no longer than 6 months, instead of a year. Google was instructed to give advance notice online and in the local press before photographing.In 2010, Google announced that it might cancel Google Street View service in the European Union due to unmanageable requests of the European Commission.
United Kingdom
In the first days of launch the UK service drew criticism due to privacy. Images were found of a man leaving a sex shopSex shop
A sex shop, erotic shop is a shop that sells products related to adult sexual or erotic entertainment, such as sex toys, lingerie, clothing, pornography, and other related products...
, a man vomiting and another man being arrested. Some images were removed including those of areas around Downing Street
Downing Street
Downing Street in London, England has for over two hundred years housed the official residences of two of the most senior British cabinet ministers: the First Lord of the Treasury, an office now synonymous with that of Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, and the Second Lord of the Treasury, an...
.
The service drew criticism in Belfast
Belfast
Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...
that it represented a "reckless" security risk, particularly for showing the exteriors of army bases and police stations so soon after the killing of two soldiers in the 2009 Massereene Barracks shooting
2009 Massereene Barracks shooting
The 2009 Massereene Barracks shooting occurred on 7 March 2009, when two off-duty soldiers of the 38 Engineer Regiment were shot dead outside Massereene Barracks in Antrim town, Northern Ireland. Two other soldiers and two civilian delivery men, one Polish and one Northern Irish, were also shot and...
, and a police officer.
Soon after the launch human rights watchdog Privacy International
Privacy International
Privacy International is a UK-based non-profit organisation formed in 1990, "as a watchdog on surveillance and privacy invasions by governments and corporations." PI has organised campaigns and initiatives in more than fifty countries and is based in London, UK.-Formation, background and...
sent a formal complaint about the service to the UK Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), which cited more than 200 reports from members of the public who were identifiable on Street View images. Privacy International director Simon Davies said that the organization had filed the complaint due to the "clear embarrassment and damage" Street View had caused to many Briton
British people
The British are citizens of the United Kingdom, of the Isle of Man, any of the Channel Islands, or of any of the British overseas territories, and their descendants...
s. He said that Street View fell short of the assurances given by Google to the ICO in July 2008 that had enabled its launch, namely that privacy would be protected by blurring faces and vehicle licence plates, and asked for the system to be "switched off" while an investigation was completed. He said the few cases where Google's face blurring system had failed meant the data used by Street View would fall under UK Data Protection
Privacy
Privacy is the ability of an individual or group to seclude themselves or information about themselves and thereby reveal themselves selectively...
legislation, which requires that subjects give permission for the use of information concerning them.
Davies subsequently sent an open letter to Google chief executive Eric Schmidt, accusing the company of briefing journalists against him, claiming Davies was biased in favour of Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
. Google has pointed to connections between Microsoft and data protection consultancy 80/20 Thinking, run by Davies, and has said that Davies' connections to Microsoft should be made clear in public, as the credibility of his criticisms is undermined by the fact that he acts as a consultant to companies who are direct rivals and critics of Google, a fact Davies rarely discloses in press releases or comments.
However, on April 23, 2009, the Information Commissioner ruled that although Google Street View carries a small risk of privacy invasion it should not be stopped. They ruled that "There is no law against anyone taking pictures of people in the street as long as the person using the camera is not harassing people". They also ruled that Google Street View does not contravene the Data Protection Act, as an image of a house held on Street View is not a data protection matter, as data protection is about people's personal information.
On April 3, 2009, it was reported in the press that residents of the village of Broughton
Broughton, Milton Keynes
Broughton is a historic village in North Buckinghamshire that has been a constituent element of Milton Keynes since the latter's designation in 1967; a civil parish; and modernly a suburb and new district of the 'city'.-History and Location:...
in Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan home county in South East England. The county town is Aylesbury, the largest town in the ceremonial county is Milton Keynes and largest town in the non-metropolitan county is High Wycombe....
formed a human barrier to stop a Google car from photographing the village, expressing fears that it was "invading the villagers' privacy" and "facilitating crime". As also reported in the press, contrary reactions have come from some Internet users, who have called on people to "descend on the village to snap their own perfectly legal photographs".
On May 21, 2009, Google Street's privacy issues got some attention in the tabloid
Tabloid journalism
Tabloid journalism tends to emphasize topics such as sensational crime stories, astrology, gossip columns about the personal lives of celebrities and sports stars, and junk food news...
press, after it was revealed that Google's facial recognition technology
Facial recognition system
A facial recognition system is a computer application for automatically identifying or verifying a person from a digital image or a video frame from a video source...
automatically blurred out the face of "The Colonel" on the shop signage of Kentucky Fried Chicken
KFC
KFC, founded and also known as Kentucky Fried Chicken, is a chain of fast food restaurants based in Louisville, Kentucky, in the United States. KFC has been a brand and operating segment, termed a concept of Yum! Brands since 1997 when that company was spun off from PepsiCo as Tricon Global...
stores "to protect his privacy", despite the fact that Harland David "Colonel" Sanders, upon whose image "The Colonel" is based, died in 1980. A spokesperson for Google defended the decision as "it shows how good our facial recognition technology is".
Denmark
According to a Danish media lawyer, Oluf Jørgensen, Google's practice of photographing people on private property is illegal. The Danish data authorities advised people who are photographed by Google, to turn Google into the police.Germany
In an April 2009 interview for the German magazine FocusFocus (German magazine)
Focus is a German weekly news magazine published in Munich and distributed throughout Germany. It is the third-largest weekly news magazine in Germany. It is considered conservative and leaned towards economic liberalism.- Overview :...
, Google's Global Privacy Counsel Peter Fleischer remarked that "public opposition to Google Street View in Germany, though not hysterical, had been tougher than in any other country." On the same occasion he stated that the project has now been "essentially aligned with the concerns of data privacy advocates," and that "specific privacy tools would be developed for the German launch while imaging continues at the fastest possible pace." The option to have specific images removed would also apply for locations in Germany.
German Foreign Minister and Vice Chancellor Guido Westerwelle
Guido Westerwelle
Guido Westerwelle [] is a German liberal politician, who, since 28 October 2009, has been serving as the Foreign Minister in the second cabinet of Chancellor Angela Merkel, and who was Vice Chancellor of Germany from 2009 to 2011. He is the first openly gay person to hold either of those positions...
said "I will do all I can to prevent it." However, Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière
Thomas de Maizière
Karl Ernst Thomas de Maizière is a German politician , currently serving as the Minister of Defence in the Second Cabinet of Chancellor Angela Merkel....
said that people should not get "hysterical" about the issue and called for "caution in introducing blanket rules allowing objections."
As of October 2010, 244,237 German households have opted out Street View. Google complied by blurring the facades on the corresponding Street View images. This procedure is misleadingly called 'pixelating
Pixelization
Pixelization is a video- and image-editing technique in which an image is blurred by displaying part or all of it at a markedly lower resolution. It is primarily used for censorship...
' in Germany (German: 'Verpixeln').
Greece
Google had been stopped from gathering images in Greek cities for its Street View service until it provides further guarantees about privacy.However, on January 18, 2010, the government legalized the service under the condition that the faces and other privacy details will be blurred.
Australia
Australia has no lawsLaw of Australia
The law of Australia consists of the Australian common law , federal laws enacted by the Parliament of Australia, and laws enacted by the Parliaments of the Australian states and territories...
prohibiting Google Street View. But in October 2010, despite this, Google Street View ceased operations in Australia, following months of investigations from Australian authorities. However on May 4, 2011, Google announced that they planned to begin production again and on July 27, 2011 the Street View imagery for Australian towns and cities were updated.
Japan
In Japan, Google Street View started in August 2008 and was made available for ten Japanese PrefecturesPrefectures of Japan
The prefectures of Japan are the country's 47 subnational jurisdictions: one "metropolis" , Tokyo; one "circuit" , Hokkaidō; two urban prefectures , Osaka and Kyoto; and 43 other prefectures . In Japanese, they are commonly referred to as...
in February 2009. The available Street View areas depicted residential and business areas, and showed the faces of pedestrians, displayed vehicle registration plates, and the - Google's decision to show these has led to disputes. Local government
Local government
Local government refers collectively to administrative authorities over areas that are smaller than a state.The term is used to contrast with offices at nation-state level, which are referred to as the central government, national government, or federal government...
s, lawyers and individuals claimed Google was violating privacy. On February 3, 2009, Google Japan representatives attended a meeting about privacy concerns held at a Tokyo Metropolitan Government facility, and agreed that privacy issues had not been adequately considered. Google pledged that, before taking photographs for Street View, they would in future notify the provinces' local government. Google Japan admitted that notifications and explanations of this kind had already been taking place in countries other than Japan, but had not done so in Japan as they were not aware of the potential privacy concerns.
On May 13, 2009, Google Japan announced that it would modify their cameras to scan from a lower height of 2.05 meters above ground level, 95 centimeters lower than the original height of the camera head. The new height is intended to avoid having cameras view over fences in front of homes and into homes. This reduced height is to apply immediately, and all areas previously visited will be rescanned from the reduced height. Scans taken at the original height will remain available until they are replaced with the new images.
On November 11, 2011, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications
Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications
The ' or Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications is a cabinet-level ministry in the Government of Japan. The English name Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications was used prior to 2004...
issued an administrative guidance
Administrative guidance
is a Japanese government practice defined under Article 2 of the Administrative Procedure Act of 1993 as "guidance, recommendations, advice, or other acts by which an Administrative Organ may seek, within the scope of its duties or affairs under its jurisdiction, certain action or inaction on the...
to Google Inc. that its collecting activity of Wi-Fi data were against the law of telecommunication which requests secrecy of communication, and requested to delete the recorded data, to take measures of preventing of recording the communication data, and to let it known publically in Japanese.
Hong Kong
Before the launch of Google Street View in Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data has taken the initiative to inquire into the Google Street View Project, to ensure that it complies with the provisions of the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance in Hong Kong and to consider privacy issues that may arise.Google declares that the Project does not intend to compile information about specific individuals whose identities can be ascertained. Faces of passers-by and car licence plates in the photographs will be unidentifiable because blurring technology is to be used. Also, there will be at least a three month gap between image gathering and publication, to prevent the images being used to identify an individual's current whereabouts.
Google also assures the Commissioner that if anyone objects to any image of themselves, their cars, houses or children captured by the cameras, the related image will be removed.
The commissioner concluded that Google Street View does not breach Hong Kong privacy laws. But he will look seriously into any complaint made by an affected individual in accordance with the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance.
Switzerland
In November 2009, Switzerland's Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner Hanspeter Thür announced that his agency would be suing Google because in Street View "numerous faces and vehicle number plates are not made sufficiently unrecognizable from the point of view of data protection".Middle East
In December 2010, Google revealed plans to introduce its Street View feature in the Middle EastMiddle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
, but stated there would be additional forms of censorship not previously seen in other parts of the world out of concern for the religious and cultural beliefs of those residing in these countries, the laws of these countries, and security concerns. This would include, but not be limited to, the blacking out of all human bodies, license plates, and windows of all automobiles and structures, and the total omission of some security-sensitive sites, such as government buildings.
Google would start to film the Middle East some time in 2011 if all goes as planned. Only countries with which the United States has a peaceful relationship would be included. Some countries mentioned are Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
, Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
, Jordan
Jordan
Jordan , officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan , Al-Mamlaka al-Urduniyya al-Hashemiyya) is a kingdom on the East Bank of the River Jordan. The country borders Saudi Arabia to the east and south-east, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north and the West Bank and Israel to the west, sharing...
, Morocco
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
, and Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
. In Israel, disputed territories and locations under rule of the Palestinian Authority would be excluded until further progress.
India
Google started taking Street View images in BangaloreBangalore
Bengaluru , formerly called Bengaluru is the capital of the Indian state of Karnataka. Bangalore is nicknamed the Garden City and was once called a pensioner's paradise. Located on the Deccan Plateau in the south-eastern part of Karnataka, Bangalore is India's third most populous city and...
, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, on May 26, 2011. A Google executive promised that they would do their best to avoid security concerns. However, on June 20, 2011, Street View was blocked in Bangalore due to security concerns from the police in Bangalore. Google officials and leaders from BJP, the ruling party in Karnataka
Karnataka
Karnataka , the land of the Kannadigas, is a state in South West India. It was created on 1 November 1956, with the passing of the States Reorganisation Act and this day is annually celebrated as Karnataka Rajyotsava...
, organized a meeting on July 19, 2011, to continue Street View in Bangalore. The Google officials, however, failed to convince the leaders that they would not violate any privacy laws.