Thu 14th of May 2009, filed under SEO
Search engine’s camera banned amid data protection concerns
Greece’s Hellenic Data Protection Authority has prohibited Street View cars manned by Google’s staff from photographing the streets of the country.
The service from the search giant, which provides 360 degree horizontal and 290 degree vertical panoramic views from a row of positions along many streets around the world, has provoked suspicion about the safety of privacy.
The data protection watchdog said Google would have to provide “additional information” and guarantee Street View is not an invasion of personal privacy, before expanding the platform to Greece.
Extra information would include letting the agency know how long Google plans to keep images taken by Street View cars, and what steps it would take to alert residents of their rights if they were liable to be photographed.
It added advance warnings by the drivers of camera-equipped cars from the search engine are not enough to banish fears of intrusion of privacy.
Global search a problem
When asked if the ban on Google Street View was an extreme measure, in regards to it being legal to take photographs in public places across Greece, a watchdog official said: “Photographs are not normally made available globally, and therefore there is no risk of violation of personal data.”
Greece has strict regulations surrounding the protection of private data. Seven years of military rule meant that governments have found difficulty in installing monitoring technologies.
Google said that privacy is its main concern for the street-mapping service.
“Google takes privacy very seriously, and that’s why we have put in place a number of features, including the blurring of faces and license plates, to ensure that Street View will respect local norms when it launches in Greece,” a spokesperson for the search company said.
