Intellectual Property Law

Google Street View now in Europe, Raising Privacy Concerns

By IBLS Editor

Google's street view feature started by taking satellite pictures of some United States streets and making them available for users looking for street information or a specific place of interest.  Now, Google Street view feature is going to Europe! Google is currently setting its technology to implement Google street view in the other part of the globe.  Yet, as this Nobel feature raised privacy concerns in the US, European data protection authorities are informing Google's representatives that they expect this service to abide by the European data protection and privacy laws.

European data protection supervisor, Peter Hustinx, is urging Google officials to respect European data protection laws when implementing Google street view.  "Respecting data-protection laws is central to Google's business. Success or failure for them in Europe will depend on them respecting the laws. They are smart, I'm confident they won't ignore the laws,"   Hustinx said.  In an interview Hustinx said that its agency has sent a strong message to Google and other internet search companies about the European Union expectation on data protection and privacy laws.        

Google street view may encounter more legal pitfalls in European than in the US.  In the US, there is a well-established legal principle stating that there is no reasonable expectation of privacy in public places.  Yet, in some European countries laws are more protective of individuals' privacy in public places; and this is precisely Google's challenge with its street view feature in Europe.  

In the European Union taking pictures of the streets is not a problem.  Further, taking pictures of the streets and identifiable individuals is not a problem provided that it is used for private purposes.  Yet in the EU, taking pictures of individuals in public places for commercial use, where the individual is clearly identifiable, is not permissible under EU privacy laws, unless the individuals are 'notified.'   Therefore, Google is considering installing blurring technology that would not allow recognition of individuals' faces or car plates in their street view feature.  Google Policy Communications Manager, Jon Steinback, said "We would only consider such action if the process of blurring could be automated."  This blurring system may prove less challenging that notifying individuals on public places of Google's public snaps.  The last alternative envisioned by Google consists on reducing resolutions to Google's images to protect Europeans' privacy; yet, this is seen as the last option according to Steinback's statement. 

Besides European data protection and privacy laws, Google street view must face the rules established by the European Convention on Human Rights.  Public photographs of identifiable individuals taken in public streets which constitute a "disproportionate and unjustified interference" with an individual's privacy life violate Art. 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.    This is a ruling by the European Court on Human Rights in a 1995 case.  An individual was photographed when trying to commit suicide in a public street.  The photos were widely distributed by the media.  The individual survived and the European Court on Human Rights held that the photos were a "disproportionate and unjustified interference" in plaintiff's life.  It is worth noting that the Convention on Human Rights applies to government actions rather than private actions.  Yet according to some precedents, individuals file actions under the Data Protection Act and the court may consider the individuals' human rights when deciding the case.  

Full post as published by IBLS Internet Law Blog on June 04, 2008 (boomark / email).