Latest Channel 4 News:
Row over Malaysian state's coins
'Four shot at abandoned mine shaft'
Rain fails to stop Moscow wildfires
Cancer blow for identical twins
Need for Afghan progress 'signs'

Street View 'does not breach data law'

By Benjamin Cohen

Updated on 23 April 2009

The Information Commissioner's Office tells Benjamin Cohen that Google's controversial Street View service is unlikely to be in breach of the data protection act.

image

The Information Commissioner (ICO) has said that it is "very unlikely" that Google's Street View service breaches the data protection act, saying it is no different to being caught off guard by a TV crew. But is this really the case?

Street View service allows you to effectively walk through nearly every street in Britain's major towns and cities. Its images were captured by a clutch of cameras positioned on the top of cars that drove through streets, capturing buildings, vehicles and people without warning or permission.

Following complaints by web users and the campaigning group Privacy International, the ICO said that as long as Google keeps its promise to blur faces and number plates on cars, it is unlikely to breach the data protection act. But it did confirm "that blurring someone's face is not guaranteed to take that image outside the definition of personal data".

When I asked the ICO why they said Google Street View was "very unlikely to formally breach the data protection act", rather than simply saying that it did not breach the act, they said that in its current form Google Street View complied with the act. But they left open the possibility that future versions of the service could be in breach.

The regulator argues that you could accidentally end up on television if you happened to be in the background while I delivered a "piece to camera" outside a building. Fair enough, but most people have at least seen a TV crew before and know that it's a possibility that walking directly behind me may result in you appearing on Channel4 News.

But it's actually a remote chance. Much of the footage we shoot isn't actually used. With Google Street View, all of the shots (unless they are of poor quality) that the camera takes are found on the website.

When the cars first drove round the UK, most people were unaware what they were or that they were being photographed and would appear (perhaps blurred or un-blurred) on the Google website.

The ICO also said that Street View was no worse an invasion of privacy than a football fan's face ending up on Match of the Day. But often, when you go to a football match or indeed a concert, the terms and conditions on the reverse of the ticket declare that as part of the contract of sale you consent to the photography and filming taking place.

Incidentally, the ICO were pretty upfront when I spoke to them about this, saying that it was "best practice" but not a legal requirement to confirm consent for filming on football and concert tickets.

Either way, we're all aware that filming takes place at these events. But at the time when Google began sending out their Street View cars across the UK, most of us were not aware of their service.

Dr Ian Brown of the Oxford Internet Institute told me that the terms and conditions on tickets "makes a big difference. When they're on tickets, people are consenting and they know they're being filmed. It's significantly different from Google's car photographing them walking down their street or through the window of their house."

The man who was photographed coming out of a sex shop in Soho, incidentally without his face being blurred, was almost certainly unaware of the fact he was being photographed. He didn't agree to the terms and conditions of the Google service and hadn't given consent to being photographed. When we broadcast his photograph (but with our own blurring), people might have been able to go online and then witness his face in full view and positively identify him.

The ICO were keen to point out to me that while Google might intrude on privacy, this may not amount to a breach of the data protection act. They are not a privacy watchdog, so can only find against companies that break the act. Although they did confirm that number plates and our faces are considered personal data.

The ICO's statement today comes in response to a letter sent by campaigning group Privacy International. Privacy International had suggested that the entire service be suspended until issues relating to privacy were ironed out.

Dr Brown told me: "I'm not saying Street View is evil and should be taken down, but it shouldn't be up to individuals to spot breaches of privacy and get them taken down.

"Google could have done more as when they were designing the service to single out individuals more and ensure that their faces were blurred. I can understand for a practical matter, you can't just take Street View down."

But he warned that the information commissioner is too reactive rather than proactive, and said: "There is a danger that every time a company wishes to launch a controversial system, they will simply just put it live effectively daring the ICO to take it down. All done in the knowledge that once launched it isn't practical to take a service off the web."

Google said: "We took care to build privacy considerations into Street View from the outset and have engaged with the ICO throughout the development process. Already millions of British people have benefited from Street View, whether to get driving directions, find local businesses, or explore a tourist destination."

74 people contacted the ICO about Google Street View. A number were writing to welcome the service, but the rest were complaining about images of themselves or others found on the website. The ICO is still considering the complaints but has said that they believe that Street View complies with the data protection act.

Send this article by email


Watch the Latest Channel 4 News

Watch Channel 4 News when you want

Latest Science Technology & Environment news

More News blogs

View RSS feed

Autism breakthrough

image

A new brain scan could diagnose autism in 15 minutes.

New superbug

image

"Medical tourism" spreads a new superbug to the UK.

Oil spill: BP 'failed'

BP oil spill

Professor Rick Steiner asks why killing the blowout took so long.

A new energy source?

image

Exclusive access inside the UK's first shale gas well.

Most watched

image

Find out which reports and videos are getting people clicking online.




Channel 4 © 2010. Channel 4 is not responsible for the content of external websites.