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What about Microsoft's Birds Eye View? Will MS be required to remove their images, or are those images far enough away they don't violate privacy laws? In some of them, front and back yards can be seen pretty easily, especially since you can change the view in all four directions. I realize Google's pix are mcuh closer, but, hey you can't see into most people's backyards with Google. So where do the German and Swiss officials draw the line?
2 commentsTuesday, November 18, 2008
By Abby Johnson
Google has a significant presence in Europe with large offices in Dublin, Zurich, and London, and smaller centers in Denmark, Russia, and Poland. The giant search company has been well received up to this point, but is now being forced to fight privacy laws. 
Google Street View, which has been very popular in the U.S., is not getting the same approval abroad. Switzerland officials are trying to discourage Google from introducing Street View since their law forbids the illicit use of personal images or property. 
Nelson Mattos is the vice president of Google's twelve engineering centers in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. He said Street View would be added in Switzerland "at some point" but did not specify when.
Street View is not available in Germany either and their law does not even allow photographs to be taken for the service. Marit Hansen, the deputy director of the Unabhangiges Landeszentrum fur Datenschutz in Schleswig-Holstein, said:
"What Google is doing with Street View violates German law. It's not enough that Google's Street View is not yet available in Germany. The simple photographing is in itself a violation."
German officials are making threats to fine Google and are offering homeowners stickers that advise Google to not take pictures of their property.
Street View isn't the only area that Google is receiving criticism from either. Advisors to the European Commission in Brussels have concern over the amount of time the search engines keep user logs (a history of each user's search queries).
Regulators are pushing that the search engines dispose of the records after six months. However, Google claims it needs the information for nine months in order for the search engine to properly register data and trends related to news and events.
European officials are trying to convince the search engines to meet their terms and delete user logs after six months. If the engines do not comply, the officials have indicated asking the European Commission to step in.
Mattos said:
"Google is committed to making sure the data of its users is well protected and not misused. Europe has a history of innovation. Where it has not always done as good a job, in my opinion, is in follow-on innovation, in commercializing the innovation. If you restrict too much how a company like Google can innovate, that will restrict the follow-on benefits in Europe."
Currently Street View is only used in major cities within France, Spain, and Italy.
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Too bad
Google has been photographing German cities for months now. It's too bad they were not aware of this law that prohibits even taking pictures (I assume only when they're for commercial use). That's a chunk of money wasted if they aren't allowed to publish the images. So, what about Flickr and Webshots and similar companies? You can order pictures of German locations from Webshots and Flickr has advertising on their website. Betcha those amateur photographers and/or websites didn't secure permission to take those pictures. Why are they not being requested to remove them?
For personal reasons, I'm really disappointed that we probably won't have German cities available for Street View. Street View is an incredible tool for travelers, as well as local citizens. Before Street View, I'd never considered visiting Spain or France, since the UK and Italy were always my dream destinations. Having virtually toured Barcelona, Nice and Marseilles and other cities, I realized what I was missing and now they're on my must-do-before-I-die list and it's all thanks to Street View.
What about Microsoft's Birds Eye View? Will MS be required to remove their images, or are those images far enough away they don't violate privacy laws? In some of them, front and back yards can be seen pretty easily, especially since you can change the view in all four directions. I realize Google's pix are mcuh closer, but, hey you can't see into most people's backyards with Google. So where do the German and Swiss officials draw the line?
I wonder if German officials would be willing to approve a German company taking the photos? Thing is Street View is useful - surely a few German citizens would want it or something like it from a local company at least. ?? Same sentiment for Switzerland.