Google pays €1 million fine in Italy for data collection by Street View

Google has agreed to pay the 1 million fine imposed for privacy breaches relating to data collection by unmarked Google Street View cars, Italy’s Data Protection Authority, the Garante, announced on 3 April.

The case goes back to 2010 when the Garante received several complaints from citizens who said that they did not wish to appear on the photos that would be posted online, could be enlarged, and in any case, would remain on the network for a considerable time.

The Garante had asked Google to make the cars easily identifiable, and to publish on its website, three days before the start of filming, the locations visited by the Street View cars, as well as include similar publicity in at least two newspapers and a local radio station. While Google complied with this request promptly, the Garante nevertheless fined the company for illegally collecting data that would be destined for a large database.

See the announcement (in Italian)