NEWS /

Google to Comply With Swiss Court on Street View

19 Dec, 2009, 4:20 pm IST | by Reuters |

Google will comply with an expected Swiss court ruling into whether its Street View web service fails to protect people's privacy by showing their faces and licence plates, the company and Swiss authorities said.

The company is accused of failing to obscure such sensitive images from its photo mapping application sufficiently and setting cameras at a height on filming vehicles that allows them to see over fences, hedges and walls into private property. "Google commits to a final and binding Swiss court decision and to implement it also with regard to images which have already been transmitted outside of Switzerland," Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner (FDPIC) Hanspeter Thuer said in a statement on Friday. Street View went live in Switzerland in mid-August, after it had already caused controversy in Britain and raised concerns when vehicles mounted with periscope cameras began shooting images in Germany earlier this year. Google could continue taking photos of roads in Switzerland provided it gave at least a week's notice on where photos would be taken, but would not be allowed to put the images on the Internet until the final court decision, Thuer said. "We are pleased that we have come to this agreement with Mr Thuer, under which we can continue taking photographs for Street View," said Google's Global Privacy Counsel Peter Fleischer. "However, we will not put online any additional images on Street View until the decision of the Federal Administrative Court." A source close to proceedings said a final court decision was unlikely within the next year. Thuer referred the matter to the country's Federal Administrative Court in November, saying Google had failed to comply with most of his recommendations to protect people's privacy. Google said previously it would not lower the height of the cameras on its vehicles in Switzerland.

Google did this in Japan, but only to preserve image quality since the streets are narrower and houses closer together. Lowering the cameras posed other problems because it brought them closer to people's faces, the company said, adding it continually improved the software it used to pick out and blur faces and licence plates automatically.

Tags: Google , Street View

RELATED STORIES

EU's Almunia offers Google chance to settle antitrust case, Google disagrees with opinion

EU's Almunia offers Google chance to settle antitrust case, Google disagrees with opinion

The European Union's antitrust chief on Monday offered Google a chance to settle an investigation into allegations of anti-competitive behaviour after ...

26/11 attacks planned using Google Earth, says U.S commander

Google to meet French regulator on privacy policy

Chrome 19 now available, features Tab syncing

Google Drive gets Research tool

Samsung confirms Galaxy Nexus will not officially launch in India

Google engineer behind Street View data breach identified

googles dark side - google conspiracy

20 Sep, 2007, 11:29 pm IST

googles dark side - google conspiracy

google office around the world

12 Mar, 2010, 10:37 am IST

google office around the world

HotForWords - GOOGLE SEXY OFFICIAL VIDEO

06 May, 2011, 09:31 am IST

HotForWords - GOOGLE SEXY OFFICIAL VIDEO

google Documentary - Discovery Channel

23 Jan, 2011, 04:05 pm IST

google Documentary - Discovery Channel

 

Leaked Images, Availability, Pricing,
Specs, Pre-order

Photos

High Court Order - Madras

High Court Order - Madras

17 May, 2012, 04:22 PM

2.3

Trials Evolution

Trials Evolution

12 May, 2012, 10:33 AM

Sniper Elite V2

Sniper Elite V2

09 May, 2012, 10:04 PM

3.3

MORE PHOTOS

OPINIONS

Padmini Harchandrai

The latest "should they-shouldn't they" event with Facebook is the lift of the minimu...

MORE OPINIONS

features

Portable Wi-Fi Drives for your smartphone

Portable Wi-Fi Drives for your smartphone

Fed up of the limited storage on your mobile device? Here are some devices

By Aaron Almeida

Top 5 potential Gmail alternatives

Top 5 potential Gmail alternatives

Google’s Gmail service is arguably the most advanced and feature-packed...

By Naina Khedekar

Five ways to beat the petrol hike

Five ways to beat the petrol hike

Petrol prices went up by a considerable amount post Wednesday, and this...

By Karan Shah

MORE FEATURES

On video: HTC One V

On video: HTC One V

18 May, 2012, 04:44 AM

4.5

On video: Cowon Z2 (16GB)

On video: Cowon Z2 (16GB)

15 May, 2012, 04:58 PM

2.3

On video: Samsung WB150F

On video: Samsung WB150F

08 May, 2012, 04:23 AM

5.0

MORE VIDEOS

776 views

1129 views

630 views

MORE WALLPAPERS