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Google sparks privacy fears

10 July 2008

They've been spotted crawling up and down the streets as far afield as London and Edinburgh, taking photos of houses, gardens and streetscapes.

Internet search giant Google has sent out a fleet of branded cars equipped with 360-degree cameras to take images of every street in Britain and upload them to an online map service.

These will be loaded onto its new service 'Street View', which will allow internet users from anywhere in the world to look at street-level shots of Britain's roads.

The search engine giant already provides a bird's eye view of UK homes through detailed satellite pictures on Google Earth. However, Street View can capture passers-by, which has led to privacy concerns.

Privacy International, a UK rights group, said it believed the technology broke data protection laws.

'In our view they need a person's consent if they make use of a person's face for commercial ends,' said Simon Davies of the group, which has written to Google and asked for technical information about the system.

They added they would ask the Information Commissioner to investigate if they were not satisfied with the response.

But Google said they had started a trial of face-blurring technology, using an algorithm that detects human faces in photographs.

Google Counsel Jane Horvath replied in a letter to Privacy International saying: 'As with all such systems operating at this scale our blurring technology is not perfect.

'We occasionally miss a face or license plate, for example if they are partially covered, or at a difficult angle.

'However, we tested the technology thoroughly before launch and I am confident that it finds and blurs the vast majority of identifiable faces and license plates.'

The technology has already been applied in France, where the Tour de France route has already been plotted.

Street View already provides an extensive service for a number of U.S. cities including New York and Washington D.C. It has had to remove images after several people complained.

In one photograph a man appeared to be climbing a fence. Two men in San Francisco appeared to be gazing at a woman as she bent over and an ambulance driver was seen stopping and eating a sandwich.

Source: Daily Mail