Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) made a settlement paying 1 million euro fine ordered by Italy’s data protection regulator pertaining to the complaints that the car used by the web giant for recording images on Italian streets, in 2010, were not clear and identifiable.
Unidentifiable Google cars to blame
On Thursday, the regulator mentioned in a statement that people in Mountain View in California could not recognise the cars and thus they could not decide whether they want to be shown in the pictures or not.
“The fine from the DPA relates to an old case that dates back to 2010. We complied with everything the (regulator) required of us at the time,” a Google spokeswoman said.
Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) cars, which were difficult to be recognised because of insufficient labels, are fined. According to the regulator, Google unintentionally shot the pictures of electronic communications as part of its mapping research in the country. Back in 2013, Google’s request was turned down by the United States Federal appeals court, when the company asked to dismiss the case of breaching federal wiretap law against it as it accidently collected the personal data while designing Street View.
Italian regulator said that it considered the search engine operator’s “consolidated revenue of over $50 billion,” while deciding the fine amount. According to the Italian watchdog, Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) is readily abiding by the measures it requested like marking the cars used for collecting the information, and broadcasting the details of the areas where the company plans to collect the data.
Google facing similar charges elsewhere
Over the past couple of years, Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) has been in a legal brawl in the United States and Europe for its services like Street View, which provides panoramic view of the streets all over the world.
Back in March this year, Indian fair watchdog CCI fined Google for around $5 billion or Rs 30,500 crore, alleging the company of violating the competition norms in the country. The company said that it is “extending its full cooperation” to the CCI, in its investigation.
In Germany, Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) was slapped with a fine of 145,000 euros last year by a privacy watchdog for involuntarily intercepting emails, user names, password and other data from Wi-Fi networks while taking photographs for Street View.
