BERN, Switzerland — A government official is demanding that Google Inc. take from the Internet any Street View images of Switzerland, and the company said Monday it would resolve problems with the privacy-rights regulator.
Hanspeter Thuer, Switzerland’s federal data-protection commissioner, said Google’s pictures were violating strict privacy laws by failing to obscure people’s identities on the mapping service, which offers detailed street-level images.
“Numerous faces and license numbers weren’t blurred or were done so inadequately,” said Thuer’s statement, adding that he “demands that Google Inc. immediately take its Google Street View online service off the Internet” until it can ensure that images respect Swiss law.
Since launching in 2007, Street View has expanded to more than 100 cities worldwide but has faced privacy complaints from many photographed people and institutions.
Greece’s Data Protection Authority rejected Google’s bid this year to roam streets with cameras mounted on vehicles, and the Pentagon barred Google from photographing U.S. military bases.
Residents of a small English village formed a human chain in April to stop one of Google’s camera vans, while in Japan, some complained that the service provided a view over the fences around their homes.
