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After Modifications, Google Street View Approved For Switzerland
An anonymous reader writes "Since Google began collecting Street View data in Europe a few years ago, many countries have taken it the company to court in order to settle privacy concerns. The NY Times reports that the last challenge to Street View's basic legality has been resolved. Switzerland's top court accepted that Google could only guarantee they would blur out 99% of faces, license plates, and other identifying markers, but also imposed some additional restrictions. 'Those conditions would require Google to lower the height of its Street View cameras so they would not peer over garden walls and hedges, to completely blur out sensitive facilities like women's shelters, prisons, retirement homes and schools, and to advise communities in advance of scheduled tapings.'"
'Those conditions would require Google to lower the height of its Street View cameras so they would not peer over garden walls and hedges
While it'd not be a complete 1:1 mapping of those features to large & gated-off mansions, one can see where that one came from.
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Satellite based imagery plus topographical street view data could be used to reconstruct buildings. 3d maps is good enough for most purposes. Real images are overrated.
OK, a lot of that I can see - e.g, women's shelters or schools. But if the Google van snaps some photos of the outside of a prison, what's the problem there? Presumably they're not violating the privacy of the inmates, who are inside the prison, and anyone could come along and photograph the prison from the same place and post it on Flickr.
Just curious what's up with that.
Why is this tagged "eu" and has a EU flag? Switzerland is not a EU member.
Wouldn't blurring these out be the same as putting up a sign saying "Women's Shelter"? I thought those places were nondescript houses.
Even if the article is tagged EU, it discusses only Switzerland, and Switzerland is not in the EU.
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The law regarding this type of thing here in Switzerland drives me crazy.
You are out in public, you should have no expectation of privacy. Period, end of story.
What is next? Legislating that no one can look at anyone else in public? We all have to walk with our heads down so we don't accidentally see anyone else out on the street?
I am all for private data staying private, but when I am out in public, it is, get this: public information.
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I quote: " to completely blur out sensitive facilities like women's shelters, prisons, retirement homes and schools."
The Swiss are usually clever, but in this case I wonder. Women's shelters typically don't advertise that fact on their exteriors. They look like all their neighbors, which is a good way to hide. But requiring Google to blur such facilities is an almost perfect clue as to what they are. Prisons and schools are obvious from their exteriors (even blurred) and a retirement home can be categorized with a quick visit. (Who comes in and out.) That means that blurs that look like homes or small apartment buildings are likely to be women's shelters.
If I were running such a shelter, I wouldn't ask for blurring. In fact, I'd insist on no blurring.
Lowering the height seems reasonable. If someone has a high fence or hedge or such, they obviously consider the area behind it "private" and wish it to stay that way. But doing so will not significantly worsen the Street View images.
Likewise, blurring out sensitive areas is also logical. I think they're going a bit too far, personally - retirement homes? - but it's still not unreasonable. I can disagree with the extent of that decision while still recognizing that it was a logically-defensible and rational decision.
Advising communities in advance is also reasonable, if defined reasonably. Obviously, demanding Google go door-to-door six months ahead of time and personally notify every single person is unreasonable, but if it's just "mail them a letter stating the days and approximate times you expect to go by" or "put a notice in the local newspaper", it's fine. I doubt many people will care, but it will placate the few who have concerns.
Its now useless there.
I'm as much for privacy as anyone else but if i can stand on the street corner and see something, there is no reason Google cant record it too.
Don't want to be on Google, don't do whatever you are doing within sight of the street....
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What, exactly, is the problem with showing women's shelters, prisons, or schools? Will bad people not be able to find them without street view? What is the downside, I don't understand.
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The community I grew up in, in the USA is not available on Google Street. I assume this has something to do with the presence of some military and foreign dimplomats in the community. It's a suburb of Washington DC so that's quite common.
Switzerland, like probably some other countries in Europe, has privacy of its citizen written in the law. That means that, by default, you are not allowed to take pictures of home gardens without prior approval (with or without fence). You also cannot also take picture of, or interview, individuals without their prior consent.
Now if Google just changes the maps in North Korea a bit to show the glorious leader's vision for how great their country looks to the rest of the world, they'd be allowed there as well.
Why does it take one country to impose common sense on street view?
The rules Switzerland are imposing should be used across all of street view, not just for Switzerland.
Bad people should have no trouble in finding prisons without Street View. All they need do is commit some crime, go to a police station, and turn themselves in.
What date is this? Switzerland is already mapped by street view. Germany and Belgium are not but Switzerland largely is.
When did schools become "sensitive facilities?" I thought that was strange -- part of the apparent "there's a stalker behind every bush" mindset of modern parents.
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Yes, you beat me to it! I thought that was strange too. I could see women's shelters, but prisons and schools are very strange additions to the privacy list. You mean students and prisoners have an expectation of privacy while going to their cells? Good luck with that.
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It seems to that the various privacy laws in place across Europe targeting Google Maps have little effect on Google, which has enough resources that they can easily apply technical fixes to tackle each states differing privacy requirement. The net effect though, is to provide a high barrier of entry for competitors. A young startup wishing to start a competing street level mapping service will not have army of lawyers to sort through each states differing laws. Nor may they have the technical expertise to accurately implement blurring algorithms to the satisfaction of the courts. In short, while these laws are intended to target Google, they end up benefiting it, by making it more difficult for competitors to enter the field.