Google's Street View Meets Resistance In France

Ian Lamont writes "Google has begun to scan the streets of Paris as part of its Street View service, but the company may be hindered from publishing them unedited. The reason? French privacy laws. Google may be forced to blur faces or use low-resolution versions of the photographs. The Embassy of France in the US has a page devoted to French privacy laws, that says the laws are needed to 'avoid infringing the individual's right to privacy and right to his or her picture (photograph or drawing), both of them rights of personality.'"

Comments

Re:Easily contourné

[yotto]

Exactly correct.

The solution shouldn't be making pissing in the street illegal. It should be taking a picture of it that's illegal.

IOW, if you're pissing in the street, you shouldn't be mad when someone takes a picture of it.

It's the law. But it's a bad law.

[5KVGhost]

The French law is a dumb law, and I hope Google makes that very clear. If other countries were to enact such laws it would be a disaster to everyone who cares about social documentary. Google will probably give in, but the shouldn't do it without a fight.

Some of the best street photography ever was taken on the streets of France. Now most of his work would probably be illegal. It's easy to go after a relatively mechanistic photography like Google's project, but in the end there's no difference between photography and photography.

Re:that may not mean what you think

[nguy]

When you take pictures on the street of somebody in a window of their house that is considered private. Google does that and hence is violating the law.

If you don't put curtains on your windows, your house is no more a "private place" than Macy's shop windows.