Greece blocks Google Street View

Jake Widman
Wednesday, 13 May 2009 00:58

Your IT - Home IT

The Greek government agency in charge of protecting personal data and individual privacy has banned Google Street View vehicles, pending "additional information" from Google.

The vehicles, mounted with 360-degree cameras, provide the photos of buildings and sidewalks that compose the street-level view option on Google Maps.

The photos also pick up passersby and people going in and out of houses and stores, which has resulted in some well-publicized embarrassing discoveries.

Apparently the Hellenic Data Protection Authority wants to head off any similar incidents. It wants to know how long Google plans to keep the Street View images and how it proposes to warn citizens that they had been or might be photographed.

One anonymous agency official was quoted as saying, "We are not going to allow our country to become a Big Brother society."

The agency has also blocked ISP Kapou, a Greek company, from providing a similar service.

For its part, Google insisted it would protect Greeks' privacy. "Google takes privacy very seriously, and that's why we have put in place a number of features, including the blurring of faces and license plates, to ensure that Street View will respect local norms when it launches in Greece," the company said.