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Again Google's Street View was probed
2011-04-28
Belgium became Thursday the newest EU country to research Google's Street View picture map after cars taking photos for the programme picked up non-public info. "We have received a complaint from the privacy protection council and we have opened an investigation," Fed. prosecutor's speaker Eric Truck der Sijpt told AFP. A commission official informed the Flemish paper De Morgen the body believes the US Web giant committed a "flagrant violation of privacy protection laws." With cameras mounted on their roofs, Street View vehicles take 360-degree footage of locations that are then posted to Google Maps, offering users wide ranging views of roads. Launched in 2007, Street View has sparked privacy concerns in a few Western european nations including France, Germany, Holland and Switzerland. In May, Google admitted that its Street View autos, taking pictures of towns in more than thirty states, had coincidentally gathered information sent over unsecured wifi systems, sparking beefs by information regulators around the world. Google Belgium apologized on Thursday. "We are sorry to have unintentionally picked up information from unsecured wifi networks," Google declared. "As shortly as we realized what occurred, we interrupted the actions of our Street View autos and we informed the authorities." "We neither looked at nor utilized the information for Google goods and services. We are in communication with Belgian authorities and may continue to answer all their questions." Last month, France's info privacy regulator put in place a record fine of 100,000 Euro Bucks ( $142,000 ) on Google for collecting private info while compiling stills for Street View. Earlier in the month, a Swiss court ordered Google to make all pictures of people and automobile plates unrecognisable on Street View.
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