Street View slapped by Swiss court on privacy issue

by Steven Mostyn - Apr 6 2011, 10:19

Google’s incredibly useful but oft-contentious Street View is once again in the headlines (for all the wrong reasons) after a court in Switzerland ruled the interactive mapping tool does not adequately protect the privacy of Swiss citizens.

According to the Federal Administrative Court’s ruling of March 30, Google is not currently utilising sufficient protective processes to fully safeguard the identities of people (and the number plates of vehicles) inadvertently snapped by the fleet of Street View camera cars.

Although Street View has been available in Switzerland since August of 2009 and is used by around 25 percent of the population, the court has now said Google’s commercial pursuits do no outweigh the country’s privacy rights—and has therefore ordered the Internet titan to introduce more comprehensive technology to ensure dependable anonymity.

As things stand, Google uses special algorithms to apply pixel blurring to the faces of any people (and vehicle number plates) caught by the multi-directional lenses of its Street View cameras. According to Google, its automatic blurring system is successful 99 percent of the time.

It’s also worth noting that any Swiss citizen that finds their face has slipped through the Street View security net can always have blurring applied upon request.

However, that clearly isn’t good enough for the Swiss court, which wants Google to manually seek out and blur the identifying features of anyone and everyone photographed by Street View—placing particular focus around “sensitive” locations such as courts, hospitals, prisons, retirement homes, schools and women’s shelters.

The court was convened to discuss the matter of Street View following complaints lodged against the online service by Switzerland’s data protection commissioner, Hanspeter Thuer.

Google has expressed its disappointment regarding the ruling and has said it is looking into the possibility of launching an appeal.

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