Google, Sued by Switzerland
Google was sent to Court by Switzerland under the charge of not respecting the fundamentally right at privacy.
When it first appeared online, Google Street View seemed to be a very interesting program because it allowed the users to view a 360 degrees sight of all the streets and houses from almost every important city and town. The pictures were shot with a professional camera, mounted on a car, who took thousands of pictures, practically everywhere. The problem appeared when in the photos appeared patients from hospitals, men from the prison, and even people in their own bedrooms. And what is most important is the fact that the faces from the photographs were not made unrecognizable.
Because of these facts, Switzerland charged the IT giant, Google, for not respecting the people’s fundamentally rights at privacy in their lives.
Google Street View
Although the officials of Google declared that Google Street View is perfectly legal, Switzerland’s lawyers asked the Court of Justice to make Google remove the pictures taken in Switzerland, at least until a decision will be taken. Though, this thing might last for a period, because a decision in this case is hard to be taken.
Though, if Google Street View is declared illegal in Switzerland, this thing might degenerate into a dangerous precedent for Google, because other countries might do as well. And with a precedent decision like that, the countries could ask for financial compensations, which might hit hard in Google’s budget.
- THIS POST WAS WRITTEN BY:
- Matei Iurea
I find it quite strange that people in an open, public place could complain that they were seen by a camera mounted on a car. Being in a public place you would assume that anyone could see what you were doing, whether legal or illegal. It is the same as having your photograph taken at someone’s house, and the people across the road were picking their nose. You post it on the web and they complain. Perhaps, if they did not want people to see them picking their nose, they should have done it in a private place with the curtains closed.
I have no sympathy for people doing dodgy, stupid or embarrassing things in a public place or in a room with the curtains open for all to see.
I am certain that legislation in a free country covers the act of capturing images in a public place. In Australia it is legal under the privacy Act. Please have a read of this article http://www.4020.net/words/photorights.php which provides a nice easy to understand interpretation of photography & privacy.
Cheers
Phil