Google Street View could breach law

Google's latest mapping project could land the company in hot water if it tries to implement it in Europe.

Street View offers Google Maps users street-level photography, including cars, animals and passers-by, of nearly every street in the central areas of five American cities.

However, a leading technology lawyer believes that if the company tried the same thing in Europe, it could be open to litigation on privacy grounds.

Struan Robertson, of law firm Pinsent Masons, said although Google will remove identifying photographs on request, that may not be enough for European courts.

He said: "The law demands explicit consent for sensitive personal data. That means when taking pictures of someone leaving a church or sexual health clinic – which could reveal a religious belief or an illness – camera cars might need to pull over and start picking up signatures."

The company crawled the roads and avenues of New York, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Denver and Miami with cameras mounted on cars, taking pictures as they went along. The pictures can now be seen by clicking on specially marked streets in the American edition of the Google Maps site.

Robertson said: "In the UK we have a right to prevent the display of an image that would cause substantial distress. All we have to do is send an email to Google asking that it does not display a picture of us: 'Dear Google, I think your camera caught me in Hyde Park this lunch time canoodling with my wife's best friend. Please make sure I can't be seen in Google Maps because this may cause me substantial distress. I've attached a pic of what I look like'.

"If Google refuses or ignores you, you can go to the Information Commissioner and ask him to enforce the right. If there's damage and distress, you can sue."