Government ban sought for Google’s Street View

By Kul Bhushan | Updated on 28-Jun-2011

28-Jun-2011

The future of Google’s Street View campaign in India seems to be in jeopardy. The ambitious project that aimed at providing users 360 degree views of streets around the world was temporarily stalled in India after the Bangalore police questioned the authenticity of the project. Now, one of the Karnataka ministers has come out in opposition of the project. State home minister R Ashoka said on Monday that Google should be prevented from taking pictures of the metropolis.

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The minister made the statement after he received a memorandum from the communication cell of the BJP that calls for a government ban on the Street View project. The party says in the memo that the city is already on radar of terrorists and that the project will only increase the security risks. It further demands confiscation of the video footage and data collected by the search engine company. The memo also highlights that Bangalore is one of the major IT and business hubs in the country and has some sensitive government installations such as ISRO National Aerospace Laboratories.

It is not the first time when Google’s Street View project has hit a roadblock. The project has already come under scanner of security authorities worldwide. Street View saw some strong opposition in Germany where critics raised privacy concerns. Google had sparked controversy last year after it acknowledged inadvertently collecting data through Wi-Fi in some 30 countries. Even though the search engine company assured the world that it was taking necessary steps to deal with the data, the project continued to draw skepticism across the world. In Australia and the US, however, Google managed to carry out its street view operations smoothly.

Do you also believe Google’s Street View is a risk for privacy and security? Will Google ever taste success with its ambitious project? Let us know what you think in the comments section below:

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