Google’s Street View Gets Green Signal For Launch In UK
London – Google’s controversial Street View photo-mapping tool — which will offer ground-level pictures of every UK neighborhood — has been given the all-clear signal to launch by the UK’s privacy watchdog, after the Information Commissioner said it had no more concerns.
The Street View system uses special vehicles with panoramic cameras to snap pictures of streets and adds them to online Google maps to allow users to see what locations look like.
But the proposed project drew criticism from privacy watchdogs and has attracted opposition from UK civil liberties campaigners, worried that the service could breach individuals’ privacy.
Any people seeking to explore Britain from the comfort of their office chairs are in luck; the Information Commissioner’s Office has concluded that Google Street View does not create any real privacy problems.
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) said the safeguards Google was putting in place, such as blurring faces, were sufficient to allay concerns.
An ICO statement said: “We are satisfied that Google is putting in place adequate safeguards to avoid any risk to the privacy or safety of individuals, including the blurring of vehicle registration marks and the faces of anyone included in Street View images.”
“Although it is possible that in certain limited circumstances an image may allow identification of an individual, it is clear that Google are keen to capture images of streets and not individuals.”
A fear of getting litigated or even charged with a crime is what appears to have kept Street View at bay from spreading to Europe. Google has introduced face- and license plate-blurring technology, though, and this helped it pass the ICO inspection.
Street View tool was launched in the US in May 2007 featuring a handful of major cities. Since then, it has been expanded overseas.
Privacy groups in the U.K. have criticized the tool, saying it could violate privacy and data protection laws. These privacy advocates have been worried that people or other identifying markers, such as vehicle license plates, could be used to identify and track individuals in the Google pictures.
In the US, A husband and wife in Pittsburgh are suing Google for showing an image of their house, which is accessed only by a private road.
Google asserts its position that the photos are not an invasion of privacy. The company even provides people with an option to flag photos for removal that they deem inappropriate.
Although the Street View cars have been spotted in many places in the UK Google has yet to reveal when pictures will be added to maps of the country.
However, not every issue has been resolved; Chris Williams points out some unhappiness on the part of Privacy International, for example. Also, since Google’s cars are still active in the area, it is possible Google will want to keep UK Street View images to itself for a while longer.
In general, however, we do not anticipate much time will pass before Google releases pictures of at least a few regions, and we believe a lot of people will be happy when that finally occurs.
A Google spokesman said: “We welcome the comments from the ICO. Street View is a valuable tool for people who wish to better understand a location and find information about the places they live and visit.”
“We have always maintained that we will not launch in UK until we are comfortable that Street View complies with local law and that we will use technology, like face-blurring, license plate blurring and operational controls, such as image removal tools, so Street View remains useful and in keeping with local norms wherever it is available”
Despite the privacy concerns, Google has managed to expand the Street View service throughout the world. And it was used to track the Tour de France earlier this month. The BBC reported that Google’s Street View cars have been running throughout the U.K. snapping pictures, but the company has not said yet when it will add the photos to its mapping service in that country.