NEWS /
|
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
EU's Almunia offers Google chance to settle antitrust case, Google disagrees with opinion
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
Leaked Images, Availability, Pricing,
Specs, Pre-order
Karbonn officially launches the A9 Android smartphone
14 May, 2012, 06:14 PM IST
Supreme Court website hacked in response to TPB, Vimeo block
17 May, 2012, 04:46 PM IST
Sony Xperia P up for pre-order on Infibeam, launching on 25 May
19 May, 2012, 04:32 PM IST
Samsung Galaxy S III pops up on eBay India for Rs. 44,770
22 May, 2012, 11:19 AM IST
16 May, 2012, 11:57 AM IST
The latest "should they-shouldn't they" event with Facebook is the lift of the minimu...
Portable Wi-Fi Drives for your smartphone
Fed up of the limited storage on your mobile device? Here are some devices
Top 5 potential Gmail alternatives
Google’s Gmail service is arguably the most advanced and feature-packed...
Five ways to beat the petrol hike
Petrol prices went up by a considerable amount post Wednesday, and this...
By Karan Shah

SpaceX's Dragon capsule locks up to the ISS
26 May, 2012, 04:18 PM IST
In a moment that is nothing short of being historic, SpaceX’s Dragon capsule has, according to NASA reports ...
Microsoft VP talks about Ballmer's new tech - an 80-inch touchscreen
Cisco won't invest in their Android tablet for businesses
Yahoo! shuts down Livestand 6 months after launch
Giant radio telescope gets split location

Sony to roll-out ICS update next week,...
BlackBerry Curve 9320 announced in India...
Microsoft VP talks about Ballmer's...
Cisco won't invest in their Android...

















Mixx
Facebook
Twitter
Digg
delicious
reddit
MySpace
StumbleUpon
LinkedIn










































































_011517074205_160x90.jpg)















