Street View allows users of Google's maps to view 360 degree
photographs of streetscapes in towns and cities that have been
catalogued by Google cameras. The company's distinctive cars with
cameras attached were spotted on the streets of London for the
first time last week.
Pressure group
Privacy International wrote to Google's senior privacy counsel
Jane Horvath last week to explain its reservations. "You may be
aware that Privacy International has stated, both privately to
Google legal staff and to the media, that we are concerned about a
number of potential violations of national law that this technology
may create," wrote Simon Davies of Privacy International.
Davies said that if Google did not satisfy him that it had taken
great enough account of users' privacy he would complain about the
service to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO). "In our
view they need a person's consent if they make use of a person's
face for commercial ends," Davis told the
BBC after sending the letter.
Google, though, has implemented blurring technology in order to
protect the identities of people and vehicles pictured. The
technology blurs faces and vehicle number plates allowing high
quality images to contain indistinct people and number plates.
Horvath has written back to Davies explaining that the face and
number plate blurring technology has been in place since May.
Though she conceded that it is not perfect, she said that it does
protect privacy.
"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," said Horvarth. "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. For the
few that we miss, the tools within the product make it easy for
users to report a face or license plate for extra blurring. As
always, users can still ask for their image to be removed from the
product entirely."
Street View had its first European launch last week, covering
the route of the Tour de France cycle race. The technology is
visible there and while figures are very clearly viewable, faces
and number plates are blurred.
Street View has already proved controversial. One lawsuit in the
US has been filed by a couple who argued that the pictures of their
property were intrusive.
Google has long said, though, that it would adapt its service
for the stricter privacy regimes of places such as Europe and
Canada.
"We've always said that Street View will respect local laws
wherever it is available and we recognize that other countries
strike a different balance between the concept of 'public spaces'
and individuals' right to privacy in those public spaces," said
Google global privacy counsel Peter Fleischer in a blog post last
year. "There's an important public policy debate in every country
around what privacy means in public spaces. That balance will vary
from country to country, and Street View will respect it."
The Google cars, which have a logo on their door and a
metre-high camera rig on their roof, have been sighted in
Edinburgh, Cardiff, Birmingham, Leeds and Middlesbrough in the past
week.
"Our users have been asking for the service ever since we
launched in the US and we are very excited about bringing it to
Europe," a Google spokeswoman told OUT-LAW.COM last week. "Soon
people from all over the world will be able to explore the
beautiful cities of Europe right from their desks."
Struan Robertson, editor of OUT-LAW.COM and a technology lawyer
with Pinsent Masons, said that the legal issues are academic.
"The Data Protection Act is irrelevant to Google unless people
can be identified in the scenes. There will be some cases where the
blurring technology misses a face, but that's not a reason to shut
down the service. These people can complain to Google if they're
upset by the image and they can have the photos removed. If they've
suffered damage and distress as a consequence of the photographs,
they could sue."
"The other relevant legal issue is our human right to a
private life. But that's unlikely to be breached by photos of
people in a street when the individuals are not the focus of the
shots," he said.
Robertson pointed to a recent Court of Appeal ruling on that
right in a case involving children's author JK Rowling.
The judge said that in any future case in which a person
happened to be in a photograph taken on the street they would be
unlikely to have a reasonable expectation of privacy. The judge was
making the point that Rowling's child in that case was the subject
of the photograph and not just a bystander.
"I suspect most people will welcome Google Street View, rather
than find it alarming," said Robertson. "The face and number plate
blurring strike me as sensible steps to minimise the privacy
risks."
