Google receives more Street View complaints

Google has been asked to cut the time it stores un-blurred Street View images

Google has received an official complaint from the European Union (EU) about its Street View application.

The news caps a bad week for the firm after the announcement of an official probe into its competitive practices, and the conviction of three senior executives in Italy.

The EU Article 29 Data Protection Working Party has asked Google to cut the time it stores un-blurred Street View images from 12 months to six, and to inform individual countries when they are being visited by Google's army of photographing cars.

"The Working Party believes that a maximum retention of six months for the un-blurred copies of the images would strike the right balance between the protection of privacy and the ability to eliminate false positives," said the organisation in a letter dated 11 February, according to Reuters.

Google has also been asked to warn people with adverts in local press when Street View images are being taken, and to appoint representatives in each EU state to make sure that privacy regulations in local areas are being followed.

Google has run into trouble in the EU with Street View before, as well as angering privacy groups and individual countries.

However, in the US privacy concerns are taken less seriously. A couple in Pennsylvania who attempted to sue Google over Street View were rebuffed by the courts.

"No person of ordinary sensibilities would be shamed, humiliated or have suffered mentally as a result of a vehicle entering into his or her ungated driveway and photographing the view from there," the court ruled.