($1.4 million) fine imposed by Italy’s
data protection watchdog over
complaints that cars it used to record
images on Italian streets in 2010 were
not clearly recognizable, the regulator
said on Thursday.
“Cars belonging to the giant of
Mountain View roamed Italy’s streets
without being entirely recognizable as
such, therefore not allowing the people
present in those places to decide
whether to be photographed or not,” it
said in a statement, referring to
Google’s base at Mountain View in
California.
Google has faced numerous privacy
lawsuits in the United States and
Europe, relating to services including
Street View, which gives a panoramic
perspective on streets around the world.
“The fine from the DPA relates to an old
case that dates back to 2010. We
complied with everything the (regulator)
required of us at the time,” a Google
spokeswoman said.
The fine announced on Thursday relates
only to vehicles not being labeled
clearly enough. The watchdog has also
reported to Italy’s judicial authorities
that Google accidentally captured
fragments of electronic communications
as part of its mapping research in the
country.
In September 2013 a U.S. federal
appeals court rejected Google’s bid to
dismiss a lawsuit accusing it of
violating federal wiretap law when its
accidentally collected personal data
while building Street View.
Google was also fined 145,000 euros
last year by a privacy regulator in
Germany for inadvertently intercepting
emails, user names, passwords and
other data from Wi-Fi networks while
taking photographs for Street View and
decided not to contest the fine.
Imposing its higher fine on Thursday,
the Italian watchdog said it took into
account the search engine operator’s
“consolidated revenue of over $50
billion”.
It also said Google had promptly
adopted the measures it requested,
including clearly marking the cars used
to collect footage, and broadcasting
details of the areas the cars would visit
on its own website and in local media.
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