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01. 12. 10. - 16:00

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01. 12. 10. - 16:00

Google gets Street View go-ahead

Google is tipped to send its Street View fleet back out onto Austria’s roads after data protection watchdogs lifted a temporary ban.

The Austrian Data Protection Commission (DSK) decided in May to ban the American internet giant from continuing filming the country’s streets and house fronts. The authority took the drastic step over news that Google had "accidentally" recorded wireless LAN internet connection information with its vehicles in some European countries.

DSK announced today (Weds) Google was allowed to continue its disputed operation after delivering some "precision data" regarding its data tracing methods.

Google recently managed to convince data protection authorities in other European countries that it only collected internet users' WLAN data "by mistake". The firm also stressed it deleted the information concerned.

An Austrian pensioner hit the headlines in April for threatening the driver of a Street View car with an axe.

Hermann Zach from the Upper Austrian town of Steyregg said he became so angry at the sight of the vehicle equipped with a 360-degree camera on his roof outside his home that he chased after its horrified driver wielding the pickaxe.

Neighbours eventually managed to overpower the 70-year-old man. They started collecting signatures against the company’s activities after the incident. DSK’s decision to ban Google from continuing taking images of Austrian roads came just a few weeks after the incident.

Google Street View, which was launched in the United States three years ago, provides panoramic views of roads, buildings and people.

Data protection activists in countries across the world have tried to keep Google from filming street sceneries amid breach of privacy concerns. They also claimed the easy access to such images online could cause a rise in burglary numbers.

The company reacted by offering a tool which allows home owners to blur the front of their homes. Licence plates of cars and motorcycles and people’s faces recorded by Street View cameras are automatically blurred, Google has stressed.

A poll by Vienna-based agency Karmasin showed recently that 51 per cent of Austrians think that the country needs stricter data protection regulations. Only 39 per cent said they regarded the country’s current rules as sufficient.

The public opinion researchers interviewed 500 Austrians for the survey published by weekly news magazine profil.

Austrian Times

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