Czech Republic bans Google ‘Street View’

“The Czech Republic’s privacy watchdog says Google has not been granted permission to expand its mapping feature ‘Street View’ because it invades peoples’ privacy,” MSNBC reports.

“The Office for Personal Data Protection last week refused Google Inc. the necessary registration for “Street View” in the eastern European country but did not explain why. Google then considered it a temporary decision,” MSNBC reports. “Office head Igor Nemec says Google uses means that “disproportionately invade citizens’ privacy.” Nemec said Wednesday that Google also does not have a proper legal representative on Czech territory to handle personal data.”

“The U.S. Internet giant has come under fire from authorities across Europe over privacy concerns, most recently for vacuuming up fragments of people’s online activities sent over public Wi-Fi networks for years while taking shots of city streets,” MSNBC reports. “With calls for regulation intensifying, officials in Germany met Internet firms on Monday to try to reconcile the country’s strict data protection rules with programs like ‘Street View.'”

MSNBC reports, “In Germany, where the debate on surveillance is tinged with memories of the role played by the Nazis’ Gestapo and the East German Stasi secret police, doubts have been raised about the transparency of the project, which Google calls a helpful tool.”

Full article here.

MacDailyNews Take: Well, at least Eric T. Mole still has Google Earth with which to ogle Czechs.

[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Lynn W.” for the heads up.]

46 Comments

  1. Never a failure to mention the Nazis when discussing anything controversial. Here’s a better suggestion: let Google do a live street view in Gaza so the world can see the horrific crimes Israel is committing against humanity each and every day. And this country was founded because of what the Nazis did to them? The Zionists are a thousand times worse. Don’t believe so? Let’s get them live feeds rocking. Come on Google, you would be doing humanity a big favor.

  2. Never a failure to mention the Nazis when discussing anything controversial. Here’s a better suggestion: let Google do a live street view in Gaza so the world can see the horrific crimes Israel is committing against humanity each and every day. And this country was founded because of what the Nazis did to them? The Zionists are a thousand times worse. Don’t believe so? Let’s get them live feeds rocking. Come on Google, you would be doing humanity a big favor.

  3. Currently, in Germany Google accepts requests of house owners to get their facade’s image pixelated in StreetView. As a German living in the US, I don’t quite get the problem. The facade is facing a public street; photography and publication of said photographs in public areas is specifically allowed.

  4. Currently, in Germany Google accepts requests of house owners to get their facade’s image pixelated in StreetView. As a German living in the US, I don’t quite get the problem. The facade is facing a public street; photography and publication of said photographs in public areas is specifically allowed.

  5. @ Nuclear Kid

    Yea, right on!

    Show those videos of Jews bombing buses, pizza parlors and birthday parties using strap on bombs with thousand of ball bearings to maximize wounding of innocent bystanders.

    No, wait, those were Muslims bombing Jews. Oh, never mind…

  6. @ Nuclear Kid

    Yea, right on!

    Show those videos of Jews bombing buses, pizza parlors and birthday parties using strap on bombs with thousand of ball bearings to maximize wounding of innocent bystanders.

    No, wait, those were Muslims bombing Jews. Oh, never mind…

  7. I really like the street view option of Google Maps to take road trips in other countries. I’m sure the tourism departments of various countries would like this inexpensive form of advertising as well.

    However because Google has crossed the line in so other areas with their numerous tracking, mining people’s wifi, giving up so much data on users to various governments etc., that I don’t blame people for disliking and disallowing anything Google does from now on.

    If your not running Firefox with BetterPrivacy, Ghostery, NoScript, TrackMeNot, WOT and even Ad Block Plus (whitelist your favorite sites of course) you are giving up data to the Google Data Miners from Hell as well as a rapidly increasing amount of other data miners, web bugs and other nasties that simple “Private Browsing” really doesn’t catch.

    In fact, someone proposed a new cookie called a “evercookie”

    http://yro.slashdot.org/story/10/09/22/1215236/Introducing-the-Invulnerable-Evercookie

  8. I really like the street view option of Google Maps to take road trips in other countries. I’m sure the tourism departments of various countries would like this inexpensive form of advertising as well.

    However because Google has crossed the line in so other areas with their numerous tracking, mining people’s wifi, giving up so much data on users to various governments etc., that I don’t blame people for disliking and disallowing anything Google does from now on.

    If your not running Firefox with BetterPrivacy, Ghostery, NoScript, TrackMeNot, WOT and even Ad Block Plus (whitelist your favorite sites of course) you are giving up data to the Google Data Miners from Hell as well as a rapidly increasing amount of other data miners, web bugs and other nasties that simple “Private Browsing” really doesn’t catch.

    In fact, someone proposed a new cookie called a “evercookie”

    http://yro.slashdot.org/story/10/09/22/1215236/Introducing-the-Invulnerable-Evercookie

  9. Agreed. Let Google do a live street view to show the face of low life terrorists firing rockets at innocents in Israel, and hopefully, Israel teaching them more hard lessons on what happens.

    Then run ads on all Palestinian TV stations so they see what happens when your scumbag maggot kids try to do murder.

    Cry babies like nuclear kid will then have more to bleed from their ass coward heart.

    Go Israel!

  10. Agreed. Let Google do a live street view to show the face of low life terrorists firing rockets at innocents in Israel, and hopefully, Israel teaching them more hard lessons on what happens.

    Then run ads on all Palestinian TV stations so they see what happens when your scumbag maggot kids try to do murder.

    Cry babies like nuclear kid will then have more to bleed from their ass coward heart.

    Go Israel!

  11. I don’t want google to do humanity any more “favors”

    they’v already convinced the world that videos should be re-downloaded into a web browser and replayed using flash every time you want to watch them and now there trying to do the same with apps.

    normally I would be against this kind of government interference however google is lobbying for the same kind of thing in the U.S. right now so quite frankly I’d like to see them get a taste of there own medicine.

  12. I don’t want google to do humanity any more “favors”

    they’v already convinced the world that videos should be re-downloaded into a web browser and replayed using flash every time you want to watch them and now there trying to do the same with apps.

    normally I would be against this kind of government interference however google is lobbying for the same kind of thing in the U.S. right now so quite frankly I’d like to see them get a taste of there own medicine.

  13. This all sounds good to me. Let’s get it out in the open. The entire world knows what Israel is up to (thx YouTube), so let’s blow the doors wide open and let the Israeli government and military be judged. Their world would crumble overnight if a world audience could watch their actions uncensored.

    So let’s get it on. The truth needs no defense.

  14. This all sounds good to me. Let’s get it out in the open. The entire world knows what Israel is up to (thx YouTube), so let’s blow the doors wide open and let the Israeli government and military be judged. Their world would crumble overnight if a world audience could watch their actions uncensored.

    So let’s get it on. The truth needs no defense.

  15. Yeah, because Palestinians don’t attack Israel for any kind of reason.

    They just feel like it, you know? They simply got up one morning and thought to themselves, “You know what’d be cool? Suicide bombing and rocket attacks!”.

    Israel sure isn’t to blame for any of this because they’re completely innocent. It’s all the fault of those crazy-ass Muslims, I tell you. Why, a person would have to be some kind of Jew-hating scum to even THINK about criticizing Israel for anything ever. I mean, It’s not like the Isreali government is hiding behind Judaism and its history of victimization in order to justify its actions and make itself irreproachable or anything, hell no. Israel actually IS the very personification of Judaism itself. So attacking it in any sense makes a person JUST LIKE HITLER. Or possibly even worse!

    Go Israel! Mindless cheerleading all the way!

    …And now on the topic we’re supposed to be discussing, I find it hilarious how seemingly all the Apple-hating Linux geeks* throw their support behind a company whose entire business model revolves around personal data mining, tracking, and invasion of privacy. And their support is in the name of freedom.

    I hope some day these people wake up and realize what Google is doing to Linux, and how they’re cynically exploiting the FOSS movement for PR brownie points and ad bucks. If Google ever had any sincere benevolence, it is long, long gone by now.

    (*as opposed to all the sane Linux-geeks out there who realize that Apple at its worst is lighter than pocketlint on the scales of corporate malfeasance. )

  16. Yeah, because Palestinians don’t attack Israel for any kind of reason.

    They just feel like it, you know? They simply got up one morning and thought to themselves, “You know what’d be cool? Suicide bombing and rocket attacks!”.

    Israel sure isn’t to blame for any of this because they’re completely innocent. It’s all the fault of those crazy-ass Muslims, I tell you. Why, a person would have to be some kind of Jew-hating scum to even THINK about criticizing Israel for anything ever. I mean, It’s not like the Isreali government is hiding behind Judaism and its history of victimization in order to justify its actions and make itself irreproachable or anything, hell no. Israel actually IS the very personification of Judaism itself. So attacking it in any sense makes a person JUST LIKE HITLER. Or possibly even worse!

    Go Israel! Mindless cheerleading all the way!

    …And now on the topic we’re supposed to be discussing, I find it hilarious how seemingly all the Apple-hating Linux geeks* throw their support behind a company whose entire business model revolves around personal data mining, tracking, and invasion of privacy. And their support is in the name of freedom.

    I hope some day these people wake up and realize what Google is doing to Linux, and how they’re cynically exploiting the FOSS movement for PR brownie points and ad bucks. If Google ever had any sincere benevolence, it is long, long gone by now.

    (*as opposed to all the sane Linux-geeks out there who realize that Apple at its worst is lighter than pocketlint on the scales of corporate malfeasance. )

  17. Yeah, because Palestinians don’t attack Israel for any kind of reason.

    They just feel like it, you know? They simply got up one morning and thought to themselves, “You know what’d be cool? Suicide bombing and rocket attacks!”.

    Israel sure isn’t to blame for any of this because they’re completely innocent. It’s all the fault of those crazy-ass Muslims, I tell you. Why, a person would have to be some kind of Jew-hating scum to even THINK about criticizing Israel for anything ever. I mean, It’s not like the Isreali government is hiding behind Judaism and its history of victimization in order to justify its actions and make itself irreproachable or anything, hell no. Israel actually IS the very personification of Judaism itself. So attacking it in any sense makes a person JUST LIKE HITLER. Or possibly even worse!

    Go Israel! Mindless cheerleading all the way!

    …And now on the topic we’re supposed to be discussing, I find it hilarious how seemingly all the Apple-hating Linux geeks* throw their support behind a company whose entire business model revolves around personal data mining, tracking, and invasion of privacy. And their support is in the name of freedom.

    I hope some day these people wake up and realize what Google is doing to Linux, and how they’re cynically exploiting the FOSS movement for PR brownie points and ad bucks. If Google ever had any sincere benevolence, it is long, long gone by now.

    (*as opposed to all the sane Linux-geeks out there who realize that Apple at its worst is lighter than pocketlint on the scales of corporate malfeasance. )

  18. Yeah, because Palestinians don’t attack Israel for any kind of reason.

    They just feel like it, you know? They simply got up one morning and thought to themselves, “You know what’d be cool? Suicide bombing and rocket attacks!”.

    Israel sure isn’t to blame for any of this because they’re completely innocent. It’s all the fault of those crazy-ass Muslims, I tell you. Why, a person would have to be some kind of Jew-hating scum to even THINK about criticizing Israel for anything ever. I mean, It’s not like the Isreali government is hiding behind Judaism and its history of victimization in order to justify its actions and make itself irreproachable or anything, hell no. Israel actually IS the very personification of Judaism itself. So attacking it in any sense makes a person JUST LIKE HITLER. Or possibly even worse!

    Go Israel! Mindless cheerleading all the way!

    …And now on the topic we’re supposed to be discussing, I find it hilarious how seemingly all the Apple-hating Linux geeks* throw their support behind a company whose entire business model revolves around personal data mining, tracking, and invasion of privacy. And their support is in the name of freedom.

    I hope some day these people wake up and realize what Google is doing to Linux, and how they’re cynically exploiting the FOSS movement for PR brownie points and ad bucks. If Google ever had any sincere benevolence, it is long, long gone by now.

    (*as opposed to all the sane Linux-geeks out there who realize that Apple at its worst is lighter than pocketlint on the scales of corporate malfeasance. )

  19. Yeah, because Palestinians don’t attack Israel for any kind of reason.

    They just feel like it, you know? They simply got up one morning and thought to themselves, “You know what’d be cool? Suicide bombing and rocket attacks!”.

    Israel sure isn’t to blame for any of this because they’re completely innocent. It’s all the fault of those crazy-ass Muslims, I tell you. Why, a person would have to be some kind of Jew-hating scum to even THINK about criticizing Israel for anything ever. I mean, It’s not like the Isreali government is hiding behind Judaism and its history of victimization in order to justify its actions and make itself irreproachable or anything, hell no. Israel actually IS the very personification of Judaism itself. So attacking it in any sense makes a person JUST LIKE HITLER. Or possibly even worse!

    Go Israel! Mindless cheerleading all the way!

    …And now on the topic we’re supposed to be discussing, I find it hilarious how seemingly all the Apple-hating Linux geeks* throw their support behind a company whose entire business model revolves around personal data mining, tracking, and invasion of privacy. And their support is in the name of freedom.

    I hope some day these people wake up and realize what Google is doing to Linux, and how they’re cynically exploiting the FOSS movement for PR brownie points and ad bucks. If Google ever had any sincere benevolence, it is long, long gone by now.

    (*as opposed to all the sane Linux-geeks out there who realize that Apple at its worst is lighter than pocketlint on the scales of corporate malfeasance. )

  20. Yeah, because Palestinians don’t attack Israel for any kind of reason.

    They just feel like it, you know? They simply got up one morning and thought to themselves, “You know what’d be cool? Suicide bombing and rocket attacks!”.

    Israel sure isn’t to blame for any of this because they’re completely innocent. It’s all the fault of those crazy-ass Muslims, I tell you. Why, a person would have to be some kind of Jew-hating scum to even THINK about criticizing Israel for anything ever. I mean, It’s not like the Isreali government is hiding behind Judaism and its history of victimization in order to justify its actions and make itself irreproachable or anything, hell no. Israel actually IS the very personification of Judaism itself. So attacking it in any sense makes a person JUST LIKE HITLER. Or possibly even worse!

    Go Israel! Mindless cheerleading all the way!

    …And now on the topic we’re supposed to be discussing, I find it hilarious how seemingly all the Apple-hating Linux geeks* throw their support behind a company whose entire business model revolves around personal data mining, tracking, and invasion of privacy. And their support is in the name of freedom.

    I hope some day these people wake up and realize what Google is doing to Linux, and how they’re cynically exploiting the FOSS movement for PR brownie points and ad bucks. If Google ever had any sincere benevolence, it is long, long gone by now.

    (*as opposed to all the sane Linux-geeks out there who realize that Apple at its worst is lighter than pocketlint on the scales of corporate malfeasance. )

  21. Yeah, because Palestinians don’t attack Israel for any kind of reason.

    They just feel like it, you know? They simply got up one morning and thought to themselves, “You know what’d be cool? Suicide bombing and rocket attacks!”.

    Israel sure isn’t to blame for any of this because they’re completely innocent. It’s all the fault of those crazy-ass Muslims, I tell you. Why, a person would have to be some kind of Jew-hating scum to even THINK about criticizing Israel for anything ever. I mean, It’s not like the Isreali government is hiding behind Judaism and its history of victimization in order to justify its actions and make itself irreproachable or anything, hell no. Israel actually IS the very personification of Judaism itself. So attacking it in any sense makes a person JUST LIKE HITLER. Or possibly even worse!

    Go Israel! Mindless cheerleading all the way!

    …And now on the topic we’re supposed to be discussing, I find it hilarious how seemingly all the Apple-hating Linux geeks* throw their support behind a company whose entire business model revolves around personal data mining, tracking, and invasion of privacy. And their support is in the name of freedom.

    I hope some day these people wake up and realize what Google is doing to Linux, and how they’re cynically exploiting the FOSS movement for PR brownie points and ad bucks. If Google ever had any sincere benevolence, it is long, long gone by now.

    (*as opposed to all the sane Linux-geeks out there who realize that Apple at its worst is lighter than pocketlint on the scales of corporate malfeasance. )

  22. Yeah, because Palestinians don’t attack Israel for any kind of reason.

    They just feel like it, you know? They simply got up one morning and thought to themselves, “You know what’d be cool? Suicide bombing and rocket attacks!”.

    Israel sure isn’t to blame for any of this because they’re completely innocent. It’s all the fault of those crazy-ass Muslims, I tell you. Why, a person would have to be some kind of Jew-hating scum to even THINK about criticizing Israel for anything ever. I mean, It’s not like the Isreali government is hiding behind Judaism and its history of victimization in order to justify its actions and make itself irreproachable or anything, hell no. Israel actually IS the very personification of Judaism itself. So attacking it in any sense makes a person JUST LIKE HITLER. Or possibly even worse!

    Go Israel! Mindless cheerleading all the way!

    …And now on the topic we’re supposed to be discussing, I find it hilarious how seemingly all the Apple-hating Linux geeks* throw their support behind a company whose entire business model revolves around personal data mining, tracking, and invasion of privacy. And their support is in the name of freedom.

    I hope some day these people wake up and realize what Google is doing to Linux, and how they’re cynically exploiting the FOSS movement for PR brownie points and ad bucks. If Google ever had any sincere benevolence, it is long, long gone by now.

    (*as opposed to all the sane Linux-geeks out there who realize that Apple at its worst is lighter than pocketlint on the scales of corporate malfeasance. )

  23. Funny.

    Israel has managed to turn Gaza into a bigger concentration camp than they ever had. Guess Israel took Hitlers baton and is now running with it. They’ve become the monsters they feared. Now The Jews = The Nazis. The similarities must be uncomfortable for many Jewish people who feel human emotions.

    Oh well, maybe the Mediterranean will one day bubble up and wash them all way, and finally there will be peace in the valley at last.

  24. Funny.

    Israel has managed to turn Gaza into a bigger concentration camp than they ever had. Guess Israel took Hitlers baton and is now running with it. They’ve become the monsters they feared. Now The Jews = The Nazis. The similarities must be uncomfortable for many Jewish people who feel human emotions.

    Oh well, maybe the Mediterranean will one day bubble up and wash them all way, and finally there will be peace in the valley at last.

  25. @ Bizzarro

    That “evercookie” is one highly pernicious piece of dog turd left scattered on someone’s hard drive. The author of the malice writes:

    “PRIVACY CONCERN! How do I stop websites from doing this?
         Great question. So far, I’ve found that using Private Browsing
         in Safari will stop ALL evercookie methods after a browser restart.”

  26. @ Bizzarro

    That “evercookie” is one highly pernicious piece of dog turd left scattered on someone’s hard drive. The author of the malice writes:

    “PRIVACY CONCERN! How do I stop websites from doing this?
         Great question. So far, I’ve found that using Private Browsing
         in Safari will stop ALL evercookie methods after a browser restart.”

  27. @Hm…

    Actually the author should have said “after a computer restart”

    Because the DNS cache still holds your sites visited.

    dscacheutil -cachedump -entries

    Still need Ghostery, NoScript, Ad Block Plus, TrackMeNot and WOT so you don’t even visit the site to begin with if possible.

    I suspect a update to NoScript will take care of this “evercookie” in short order.

  28. @Hm…

    Actually the author should have said “after a computer restart”

    Because the DNS cache still holds your sites visited.

    dscacheutil -cachedump -entries

    Still need Ghostery, NoScript, Ad Block Plus, TrackMeNot and WOT so you don’t even visit the site to begin with if possible.

    I suspect a update to NoScript will take care of this “evercookie” in short order.

  29. There wouldn’t be a Palestinian problem if their fellow Arab Muslim brother nations took in the 30,000 or so displaced Arabs during Israel’s brief nation building period in the 50s.

    But no, they were much more effective as a force against Israel if they were herded into camps and encouraged to multiply like rabbits.

    I doubt if there are more than 5000 people left alive that are true displaced Palestinians with a legit complaint. Most of the millions of so called Palestinians eager to kill every Israeli in the Middle East are products of their hostile, refuge denying Arab neighbors.

  30. There wouldn’t be a Palestinian problem if their fellow Arab Muslim brother nations took in the 30,000 or so displaced Arabs during Israel’s brief nation building period in the 50s.

    But no, they were much more effective as a force against Israel if they were herded into camps and encouraged to multiply like rabbits.

    I doubt if there are more than 5000 people left alive that are true displaced Palestinians with a legit complaint. Most of the millions of so called Palestinians eager to kill every Israeli in the Middle East are products of their hostile, refuge denying Arab neighbors.

  31. They said why … The authority did not like Google taking the pictures from the height of the stand mounted on the car (Opel Astra in Europe i believe). Therefore they were taking pictures of gardens or basement/1st floor flats through the windows. This is the problem. The ruling is not final, there is still an appeal option which Google used (according to the coverage in Czech media).

  32. They said why … The authority did not like Google taking the pictures from the height of the stand mounted on the car (Opel Astra in Europe i believe). Therefore they were taking pictures of gardens or basement/1st floor flats through the windows. This is the problem. The ruling is not final, there is still an appeal option which Google used (according to the coverage in Czech media).

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