Switzerland to sue over Google Street View

Sat,14 Nov 2009 05:47 GMT -4:00 http://www.p2pnet.net/story/31160

news view Advertising | P2P:- Switzerland today said it plans to sue Google for failing to adequately blur sensitive images on Street View.

There’ve privacy problems with Google advertising hook Street View since the day it was launched, said recently, going on  »»»

Complaints have been pouring in not only from  individuals, but also governments, around the world.

Ask Beatle Paul McCartney.

But with Gargle, it’s Gosh Golly! We’re definitely going to do something about it — promise promise, delay delay, fudge fudge.

Now, “We’ve found many instances where people’s faces aren’t blurred,” assistant federal privacy commissioner Elizabeth Denham says, according to the Canwest News Service.

In August, Swiss Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner (FDPIC) Hanspeter Thuer gave Google the go ahead for Street View, but later complained about clearly visible faces and license plates.

Google promised to sort things but, “Switzerland’s head of federal data protection has told Google that his country is still not sufficiently blurry on the Great Satan of Mountain View’s Street View service, despite the company agreeing to further obscure faces and number plates,” said The Register, publishing Street View pictures of clearly identifiable vehicle licence plates.

Swiss abortion clinics

“Nowhere is anonymity more highly prized or religiously guarded than in Switzerland, home to the world’s most secretive institutions,” said , continuing, “But ironically, there are few places where examples of Google’s failure to live up to its claims of identity protection are more glaringly obvious.”

When frequent poster Marc  went surfing in Switzerland he came across a site listing Swiss abortion clinics whose clients include teens aged 16 and under.

Any chance of these showing up on Google? – he wondered.

“But of course” we said. “This is, after all, Google Street View,” going on »»»

And no matter which side of the abortion fence you happen to be sitting, the last thing you want is to have your face or vehicle licence number splashed across the World Wide Web.

Below is a montage of 32 miniaturised pix clipped from Google Street View and even at these very considerably reduced sizes, some of the people might still be recognizable.

But full size, even though some of the faces are blurred, they’d still easily be recognizable to anyone who knew them. And there’d be no trouble at all with the licence plates or locations.

To be safe, we’ve done Google’s job for it,obscuring the faces in red.

You’re welcome, Gargle.

But Marc didn’t stop there, finding scores of other easily recognizable Google images showing faces car and motorcycle licence plates, locations, and so on.

Now, by an amazing coincidence, “The company said it’s willing to consult with other ‘interested groups such as abortion clinics and women’s refuges to hear their feedback and to answer any questions’,” says the IDG News Service.

Extensive solutions

Meanwhile, “In the Street View service, which has been online since mid August 2009, numerous faces and vehicle number plates are not made sufficiently unrecognizable from the point of view of data protection, especially where the persons concerned are shown in sensitive locations, e.g. outside hospitals, prisons or schools,” IDG has Switzerland’s FDPIC saying.

“Google struck back, charging that Thuer is ‘unwilling to engage with the extensive solutions we have offered, according to a statement attributed to Peter Fleischer, Google’s global privacy counsel,” says the story, adding:

“The FDPIC contends that blurring faces isn’t sufficient to conceal identities, especially in less populated areas. The height of the cameras is also problematic, as it can snap images over fences, hedges and walls, which means the cameras have access to areas that can’t be seen by a pedestrian, the FDPIC contends.

“This means that privacy in enclosed areas (gardens, yards) is no longer guaranteed,” it said.

In Canada, faces and car licence plates  were crystal clear

Here in Canada,  in some cases, “the face of KFC’s Colonel Sanders or faces on billboards captured in shots are blurred” instead of people’s, Canwest had assistant federal privacy commissioner Denham pointing out.

In Canada, faces and car licence plates  were crystal clear in Street View images, we noted, continuing »»»

And in British Columbia, “Within hours of its launch,”privacy commissioner David Loukidelis said he’d be contacting Google, “over early reports of adults and children being clearly identifiable in Street View for Vancouver and his own concern over the area outside the Hotel Vancouver, where he said, ‘certainly if you were the person in the picture you’d recognize yourself’”.

In testimony last June, Jonathan Lister, the head of Google Canada, “left the door open to arguing the company’s collection of cartographic images be exempt from the consent provisions of Canada’s private-sector privacy law,” says Canwest,  quoting him as telling the House of Commons privacy and ethics committee:

“I’m not a legal expert, so I can’t make a legal judgment call and I shouldn’t speculate. It’s reasonable to assume that, given the history of mapping as an artistic enterprise, precedent has been set that maps are considered to be a form of artistic expression.”

However, under certain circumstances, “this could pose a danger to children captured in street-level images if a company argues their work constitutes art,” says Denham in the story: “That raises the spectre of a company not blurring faces at all, and that predators could then obtain the information”.

Companies “may argue that they qualify for that exception,”she said. “On the face of it, I think this argument is problematic as it doesn’t seem to me that this is an artistic endeavour.”

Meanwhile, has Google been trying to reduce the impact of the storm of complaints by posting  phony comments on sites which are critical of Street View? – we wondered, adding:

“Only Gogle knows for sure. Cerainly, fake forum posts are nothing new.”

Stay tuned.

Jon Newton –

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First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win ~ Mahatma Gandhi





– More Google Street View privacy problems, October 23, 2009

Paul McCartney – Google misnumbers Paul McCartney’s house, May 28, 2009

Canwest News Service – Better privacy protection needed on Google Street View, MPs told, October 23, 2009

faces and license plates – No Street View! Switzerland tells Google,   August 25, 2009

The Register – Street View stalks Swiss data protection bureau, September 17, 2009

IDG News Service – Swiss Contend Google Doesn’t Blur Street View Enough, November 13, 2009

crystal clear – Google Canada Street View faces and plates, October 9, 2009

you’d recognize yourself’ – Google Street View ‘panned’ in BC, October 9, 2009

nothing new – Firm nailed for fake testimonials and forum posts, July 15, 2009


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