Switzerland Tells Google To Take Down Street View

from the how-dare-you-provide-a-useful-service dept

Mon, Aug 24th 2009 7:26pm — Mike Masnick

Following a bunch of other countries, it looks like Switzerland is the latest to freak out over Google Street View and to ban it, just a week after it was introduced. Google is apparently surprised by this move, noting that it had been talking to the Swiss gov't and had a bunch of privacy safeguards in place, which seemed to be working. Of course, you have to ask, are there surveillance cameras in Switzerland? If so, why is that okay when Google's Street View is not? Surveillance cameras are real-time. Street View is not. Surveillance cameras do not blur faces/license plates. Street View does. Why is one allowed and the other not? Of course, given how many local gov'ts have freaked out about Street View, it does make you wonder why Google would launch it these days without first having assurances from the gov't that it would be okay.

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team

Filed Under: privacy, street view, switzerland
Companies: google

22 Comments

If you liked this post, you may also be interested in...

Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread

Dark Helmet (profile), 24 Aug 2009 @ 7:36pm

Grrrr...
"Switzerland Tells Google To Take Down Street View"

...and Dark Helmet tells Switzerland that Mega Maid is on her way to take their air...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 24 Aug 2009 @ 8:01pm

Uhm... well, what does street view potentially compete with? Perhaps maps or GPS devices? Though one could think they could complement each other as well. This doesn't seem like a plausible explanation.

Something is missing. Not sure what exactly but something doesn't make sense.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Anonymous Coward, 24 Aug 2009 @ 8:11pm
  
  Re:
  (to continue from my last post). Then there is the possibility that the motive is to have some firm charge for these services (ie: see http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20090730/0130025706.shtml ). That would make more sense being that it follows the logic that they want to structure the laws to extract as much money away from you as possible. But still, it seems like I'm missing something.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 24 Aug 2009 @ 8:07pm

"Surveillance cameras are real-time. Street View is not. Surveillance cameras do not blur faces/license plates. Street View does."

Street view is accessible to everyone in the world. Surveillance cameras are not.

Sort of changes the story a bit. Nice reach Mike.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- ..., 24 Aug 2009 @ 8:11pm
  
  Re:
  "Sort of changes the story a bit. "
  
  How is the story changed?
  As far as I can tell, the Swiss gov still wants street view gone.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- HolaJohnny (profile), 24 Aug 2009 @ 8:46pm
  
  Re:
  And how is this a reach? What will the public do with pictures taken one moment in time? See their neighbors dog defecating on their lawn? If it was real time I would definitely see where your going but your argument isn't really clear here... Also as previously pointed out on this site many many times. If your going to personally attack or point out Mike. Maybe you can stop being a AC and register. If your willing to attack people you should be willing to defend that view. If you want to stay anonymous well then your a skank.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- icepick314, 25 Aug 2009 @ 6:10am
  
  Re:
  damm straight!!!
  
  only governments are allowed to have cameras for their viewing pleasure!!!
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Anonymous Coward, 21 Nov 2013 @ 2:35am
  
  Re:
  Swedish surveillance cameras are ALSO accessible to anyone in the world. They send data via IP unencrypted using the internet as its cheaper than creating their own network along with new cabling etc.
  
  Some of the cameras use Wifi with WEP to send to traffic poles which then drop into a hard-wired network...so pretty much easily accessible to everyone.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Ben, 24 Aug 2009 @ 8:51pm

Re:
Mate... I'm Swiss and I can tell you, this article is misleading. Switzerland does not want to totally ban the Streetview. It just wants to take the service offline before all the complaints about privacy have been resolved.

I still think that's pretty sad, actually, because once a complaint reaches google they only take a couple of hours to remove / blur the image.

I can only say: typically Swiss. Always aim for the perfect (impossible) solution.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- HolaJohnny (profile), 24 Aug 2009 @ 8:58pm
  
  Re: Re:
  I hope you are indeed Swiss, for many reasons though the most predominate is I'd like to think here we are open to and hear views from all over the world. I also hope your right about this. I'd find it said to see any country burdened with a nanny state. The more times I hear about such governments/government attitudes the more I think we are moving backwards.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- lordmorgul, 24 Aug 2009 @ 10:16pm
  
  Re: Re:
  I wonder how the responsible parties (politicians) actually expect all the complaints to be resolved while the service is offline and noone can see anything to complain about...
  Then again I've always assumed logic is a skillset somewhat unneeded in politics.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Ben, 24 Aug 2009 @ 10:26pm
    
    Re: Re: Re:
    Yeah, I was wondering the exact same thing... It seems, as most of the time, the politicians don't have the slightest clue.
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Ben, 24 Aug 2009 @ 10:25pm

Yep
Yep, I'm Swiss, but living in Australia at the moment. (Probably because I wanted to have a break of Governments that rather do nothing than something that's not 100% perfect.)
I read this post and found it disturbing, so I checked some of the (reliable) Swiss news agencies. They tell a slightly different story.

Yeah, too much nanny is no good and drives people mad (or out of the country).
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Anonymous Coward, 25 Aug 2009 @ 5:48am
  
  Re: Yep
  Could you send these reliable news Swiss agencies to Mike? He seems to have problems finding reliable sources.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Anonymous Coward, 25 Aug 2009 @ 11:17am
    
    Re: Re: Yep
    Mike has that problem a fair bit these days.
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
martyburns, 25 Aug 2009 @ 4:30am

This still completely baffles me.
I just cannot for the life of me understand anyone who has an issue with street view.

I reckon lots of people who do are just Google haters.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- mattarse (profile), 27 Aug 2009 @ 10:12am
  
  Re: This still completely baffles me.
  I think it's fair to have issue with Streetview and not be a google hater (I would fall into this camp). In the past google has not been very accommodating towards people with legitimate privacy concerns - I remember many complaints about google going into driveways and onto private roads.
  
  I'm not against streetview per se, however I do have concerns about googles regard for privacy. Yes they may take down pictures people request quite quickly, but some of the burden should lie with google not to take those pictures in the first place.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Ana, 25 Aug 2009 @ 6:29am

in defense of the swiss
Hi,

I live most of the time in NY, but have been spending a good chunk of the year in Zurich.
When I saw the phrase "nanny state" I felt I had to chime in.

I spend time in Switzerland precisely because it is NOT a nanny state - at least no where near what NY/America has become. The authorities here are very respectful of your privacy and actually treat you like a non-criminal - ex: it is much, much more pleasant entering this country as a non-citizen than it is entering America as a citizen.

You can swim here in the Limmat river at any hour, have a beer, even smoke a joint, and no one cares - no lifeguards, no signs, etc... I know that at parts of the Jersey shore in the US you cannot even throw frisbees anymore, bring your dog, or bring any containers of food or drink! My experiences here only make it clearer to me how unlivable America and most of western europe has become.

I also have seen the swiss versions of the google street view story. It does seem that they do not want to eliminate it permanently, just put it off line until all issues are solved. While the libertarian in me has problems with that, there is something to be said for swiss time frame.
Look - the swiss have remained stable for a thousand years b/c they move very slowly, and there is something to be said for that.

Anyway, just my two cents. The swiss guy in Austria should check out the states and then write back about what a nanny state really is :)

- Ana
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
MC, 25 Aug 2009 @ 6:41am

Perplexed
How can pictures, taken from a moving vehicle on a public thoroughfare, be considered invasive? It's all accessible to the public, whether it's on the web or not.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Glenn, 25 Aug 2009 @ 8:24am

Oops...
Also, if you visited Switzerland recently and took some pictures, don't post them online where others can see them. I mean, they might make people actually want to visit the place.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Michael Long (profile), 25 Aug 2009 @ 4:02pm

Why?
"...it does make you wonder why Google would launch it these days without first having assurances from the gov't that it would be okay."

Why does every business would wants to launch a new service have to seek "assurances" from the government?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 21 Nov 2013 @ 2:39am

Street view taken offline until Swiss politicians find a way to make it hurt ethnic minorities?

Swiss government are a fairly nasty bunch of racists atm who've banned "asylum seekers" (or as some of the politicians put it "dark skinned scum") from going to various cities/places within cities. Segregation similiar to the US in the 1960s.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]