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Google Street View may pose a relatively limited privacy intrusion to people but taking it offline would be to overreact, Britain’s information commissioner has ruled. Rejecting a complaint from Privacy International, the Information Commissioner’s Office said it found no evidence that the search giant’s service breached the Data Protection Act. PI had claimed that Google should have provided notice and secured consent from individuals before high-quality images of them were published on the internet. But the ICO said that what Google had done was akin to when broadcasters capture the faces of people, also without their consent, in the background of live news and sport. If anything, its ruling hinted, Google posed less of privacy intrusion because its Street View service could at least blur out people’s faces and their car number plates. As long as Google responds quickly to people’s request to delete their image, keeps its safeguards in place and ensures its photographers do not harass people, the service would remain. The ICO’s senior data protection manager David Evans also implied that far from posing a risk, Google Street View might actually serve the public interest. “It is not in the public interest to turn the digital clock back,” he said in a statement to the ruling, which found axing Street View would be a “disproportionate” action. “In a world where many people Tweet, Facebook and blog it is important to take a common sense approach towards Street View and the relatively limited privacy intrusion it may cause.” The ICO said it would keep the operation of Street View under review and take steps to address issues raised by individuals who feel that Google has not removed problematic images. Apr 24, 2009 Email this article Printer friendly page Previous Page
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