Google has announced changes to how it stores data for its
Street View application to come in line with theprivacy requirementsof different countries.
Google has been asked by an independent European advisory body
on data, known as the Article 29 Working Group, to set a time limit
for how long it retains pictures of people. The company blurs
people out on StreetView but the originals still reside on its IT
infrastructure.
Writing
in a blog, Google's global privacy counsel Peter Fleischer said
the company will make changes following talks with the Article 29
Working Group.
"We began a dialogue with the Article 29 Working Party, which
brings together representatives from all 27 European Data
Protection Authorities. In turn, they have asked us to make a few
additional modifications to address local specificities to ensure
Street View better aligns to local interpretations of privacy
requirements across the whole of Europe."
Fleischer said Google originally pre-empted many of the
different requirements and concerns and "proactively introduced
privacy enhancing technologies, [such as] industry-leading face and
licence plate blurring, and made it easy to flag inappropriate
images for removal".
The Article 29 Working Party asked Google to set a time limit on
how long it keeps the unblurred copies of panoramas from Street
View. "This is to balance the use of this data for legitimate
purposes with the need to deal with any potential concerns from
individuals who might feature incidentally on the Street View
imagery," it said.
Google said, "It is important for companies operating services
across Europe to be able to follow harmonised data protection
guidance, and we are grateful to the Article 29 Working Party for
their advice and collaboration on Street View."