Whether you're searching for a storefront in a strange neighborhood or drunks passed out on the curb, Google Street View can be an extremely helpful tool. Street View has drawn its share of critics, however, and we can now add the government of Switzerland to that list. Just days after launching Street View in Portugal, Switzerland, and Taiwan, the search giant has been told by the Swiss Government that it needs to yank the Street View from its Swiss maps, a development that has left the search giant "surprised."

Hanspeter Th�r, the Swiss Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner (FDPIC), has accused Google of not having taken the necessary steps to safeguard the privacy of Swiss citizens. Th�r has demanded that "Google Inc. immediately withdraw its online service Google Street View concerning Switzerland," according to a statement.

In the months leading up to its launch, Street View had been a concern in Switzerland. Th�r's office has an informational page (in German and French) on its site devoted to the service. It includes instructions on how to get your face blurred if you show up in a snapshot of a street and says that Google would be allowed to offer Street View for Swiss streets only if "negotiated conditions" be met. The FDPIC has left itself a big out, however, saying that should the anonymization process have shortcomings and a number of faces are visible, the Commissioner can take "necessary measures"—like banning the service.

The anonymity issue is one that Google has had to frequently negotiate since launching the service. In May 2008, the European Union reminded Google that it needed to respect local privacy laws. A Japanese privacy group has also been critical of Street View, arguing that it "constitutes violent infringement on citizens' privacy " by taking and publishing pictures online without express permission. The service has even been the subject of litigation in the US, with a federal judge tossing out an invasion-of-privacy lawsuit filed last year.

So far, Google has been amenable to government requests for changes in how Street View operates. In Japan, the company is replacing all of the original snapshots to address privacy concerns. And, as the Swiss FDPIC notes, Google offers the ability for those pictured in Street View to have their faces blurred. Even the poor kid caught falling off his bike by Google's cameras caught a break, as those images have been replaced.

A Google spokesperson told Ars that the company has received very few requests for image removal or face-blurring since launching Google Maps in Switzerland. "We were surprised by the DPA's announcement," the spokesperson said. "We have been engaged in constructive dialogue with the organization ahead of this week's launch to demonstrate how we protect people's privacy on StreetView. And we're ready to do so again or to answer any additional questions." Google promises that any anonymization and image removal requests will be responded to "within hours."

Listing image by Google Street View