The official blog for Google Maps
Street View and Privacy
September 24, 2007
Posted by Peter Fleischer, Global Privacy Counsel
Street View is a service that lets people view and navigate within 360 degree street level imagery of various cities in the US. It provides users with a rich, immersive browsing experience directly in Google Maps, enabling greater understanding of a specific location or area. Since we launched Street View in May, we have released imagery for seven US cities. We thought hard about how to design Street View so that the service would respect the privacy of people who happen to be walking down a public street at the random moment when we capture an image. That's why we designed a simple process for anyone to contact us and have their image removed. In the US, there's a long and noble tradition of "public spaces," where people don't have the same expectations of privacy as they do in their homes. This tradition helps protect journalists, for example. So we have been careful to only collect images that anyone could see walking down a public street. However we've always said that Street View will respect local laws wherever it is available and we recognize that other countries strike a different balance between the concept of "public spaces" and individuals' right to privacy in those public spaces. In other parts of the world local laws and customs are more protective of individuals' right to privacy in public spaces, and therefore they have a more limited concept of the right to take and publish photographs of people in public places. Street View isn't available outside of the US yet, but when it is, we'll be sure to respect local laws. We understand that means that we'll have to ensure that there aren't identifiable faces and license plates in some countries. There's an important public policy debate in every country around what privacy means in public spaces. That balance will vary from country to country, and Street View will respect it.
Labels
#streetview
#treasuremap
+1
3D
8bitmaps
Adwords Express
Africa
Amazon
Andorra
Android
api
Art Project
Audi
biking
Boost
Boulder
Brazil
Bulgaria
Business Photos
Business View
businesses
Canada
check-in
community
competition
contest
crisis response
Culture
custom maps
developer
Developers
directions
disaster response
discovery
earth outreach
education
Emmy Awards
Enterprise
Estonia
Europe
Explore
Fusion Tables
gadgets
Gibraltar
GMM
google
Google Earth
Google Earth Engine
Google Map Maker
Google Maps
Google Maps API
Google Maps Engine
Google Maps for Mobile
Google Maps Gallery
Google Maps Navigation
Google Maps Transit
Google Places
Google Plus
Google Search
Google Street View
google.org
Google+
googlenew
Grand Canyon
ground truth
Halloween
historical
history
holiday
Hotpot
Hungary
imager
imagery
Indoor Maps
iOS
iPhone
Iraq
Japan
Latitude
Latvia
layers
LBC
Lithuania
London
Making of Maps
Malaysia
Mall of America
Map Maker
Maps Blog
Maps Gallery
mapsgl
Matt Harding
Mexico
Mobile
Monticello
My Maps
my places
my tracks
National Geographic
navigation
new Google Maps
oblique imagery
ocean
offline maps
Olympics
Outreach
Pakistan
Panoramio
Parks Canada
Pegman
Photo Spheres
photo tours
photos
picasa
Polar Bears
Quiz
real estate
restaurants
road trips
Russia
Santa
Santa Tracker
search stories
SketchUp
Slovakia
Slovenia
South Sudan
space
Spain
sports
Street View
summer
SXSW
Tags
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson Foundation
Tip of the week
tips
tour guide
traffic
Train
Transit
travel
trees
Trekker
Trike
Trolley
U.S. National Park Service
Ukraine
University of Virginia
Valentine's Day
Veterans Day
Views
voice search
walking
Waze
weather
webgl
Your Timeline
zagat
Archive
2016
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2015
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2014
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2013
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2012
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2011
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2010
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2009
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2008
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2007
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Feed
Google
on
Follow @googlemaps
Follow
Give us feedback in our
Product Forums
.
Follow
