Loved by many, Google's Street View feature remains controversial among users and consumer groups who are concerned about privacy. The latest uproar comes from Switzerland's Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner (FDPIC), which claims Google hasn't taken sufficient measures to protect citizens' privacy and is now threatening to take the company to federal court.

The Swiss Privacy Commissioner, Hanspeter Th�r, has been on Google's back over Street View since August of this year (when the feature began to be implemented there). At that time, he demanded that Google withdraw Street View in Switzerland, and said that it would only be allowed if certain "negotiated conditions" were met. Meanwhile, Th�r's office offered instructions for citizens on how to get their faces blurred if they show up in a snapshot.

Those conditions were apparently not met, as Th�r and the FDPIC now say that Google has downright refused to implement the majority of the office's recommendations. And because of Google's decision not to implement the FDPIC-recommended changes, the company will now find itself facing Switzerland's Federal Administrative Court.

"[N]umerous faces and vehicle number plates are not made sufficiently unrecognisable from the point of view of data protection, especially where the persons concerned are shown in sensitive locations, e.g. outside hospitals, prisons or schools," the FDPIC said in a statement on Friday. "The height from which the camera on top of the Google vehicle films is also problematic. [...] This means that privacy in enclosed areas (gardens, yards) is no longer guaranteed."

Google has been battling the anonymity issue ever since the service was first launched. In May 2008, the European Union reminded Google that it needed to respect local privacy laws. Then a Japanese privacy group became 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.

Google responded on its European Public Policy blog, noting that the company originally got the green light to launch Street View before Th�r "changed his mind." Google wants to play nice though and has proposed five changes, including improvements to license plate and face blurring.

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