European Union Warns Google Over Street View Map Photos

European Union told Google Inc. to warn people before it sends cameras out to take pictures for its Street View maps, adding to the company’s legal worries in Europe.
European Union data privacy regulators said that Google should shorten the time it keeps the original photos from one year to six months, while in a statement, Google said its need to retain Street View images for one year is “legitimate and justified.”
Street View launched in the U.S. in 2007 and now adds photos of real-life street scenes to Google’s maps of around 100 cities worldwide. To soothe privacy concerns, it uses special software to blur pictures of faces and car license plates.
The data privacy warning comes a day after an Italian court convicted three Google executives including Fleischer of privacy violations because they did not act quickly enough to remove an online video that showed sadistic teen bullies mocking and hitting an autistic boy.
Google said it would appeal the case, claiming it attacked freedom of speech on the Internet.