Here we go again. Another week, another country threatening to take legal action against Google for its Street View service. Although it’s pretty clear by now that Street View is legal and doesn’t inhibit the right to privacy, Google continues to get it in the neck from each new country it adds to the line-up of countries on show. The latest to throw its toy out the pram is Switzerland.

Google first launched Street View in the United States, and the U.S. government didn’t even bat an eyelid. However, some citizens did, including the Boring couple and the town of North Oaks in Minnesota. Then came the U.K., where a full debate over privacy ensued, Japan, with its heavily populated cities and short walls, and Greece, which banned Street view altogether.

In September, Google launched Street View in Switzerland. But it didn’t take long for Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner (FDPIC) Hanspeter Thuer to raise objections. He wanted Google to remove all photographs of Switzerland from Street View until its compliance with the country’s privacy laws could be ascertained.

Now, two months on, and Thuer is suing Google to force it to make changes to the Street View service. According to PC World, Thuer wants Google to do more than just blur faces and number plates. He said:

In the Street View service, which has been online since mid August 2009, numerous faces and vehicle number plates are not made sufficiently unrecognizable from the point of view of data protection, especially where the persons concerned are shown in sensitive locations, e.g. outside hospitals, prisons or schools.

Google denies any culpability in law as it maintains Street View is perfectly legal in Switzerland. It issued a statement defending its measures to ensure privacy and attacking Thuer for not engaging in a conversation about Street View, saying:

We are disappointed that Herr Thur has changed his position on Street View after launch, and that he has not considered our proposals for further improvements to the product. We will vigorously defend Street View in court and we’re committed to continue bringing the benefits of this product to Swiss users.

In all the cases involving Street View fought over the last couple of years Google has been proved to be operating within the laws of every country it has visited. And I’d be astonished if Switzerland were any different. If Google were uploading identifiable shots of people or property with no blurring or measures in place for removal then I’d also be against the service. But it isn’t, so I’m not.

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Entry was posted on Saturday, November 14th, 2009 at 10:38 pm under Google, Internet, Legal, Technology.

Read more entries by Dave Parrack.
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