Google Streetview and India

The police say Google doesn’t have written permission from the Centre

Only the Indian police can be afraid of Google Streetview. All major cities in rich countries have it, but when it came to Bangalore, the police stepped in and said that collecting drive-through images of the city areas might be a security issue.

To take a ‘streetview’, Google deploys vehicles with cameras mounted on them. These images are then embedded in its Google Maps application to give a virtual walkthrough of the city. In Bangalore’s case, it had deployed six SUVs and tricycle-mounted cameras.

But unlike rich countries that welcome this as a convenience for commuters, in India it has run into the oldest bogey of the Government—security threat. Bangalore’s Additional Police Commissioner T Suneel Kumar said that though the company had obtained prior permission for its vehicles to move around with video cameras, it would be allowed to continue only after submitting clearances from the Centre.

“There are several vital installations in and around the city. These sensitive areas cannot be photographed or, in some cases, prior permission is needed as they are high-security installations that are vulnerable to terror attacks. We have no objection if they take images of residential or business districts,” he says.

Police say Google Maps was used extensively in the Mumbai attacks, as admitted in the David Headley trial underway in a US court. “It becomes easier for some terrorist to access street-level video images for reconnaissance,’’ he adds.

The police say that though Google claimed it had permission from the Centre, there were no such written approvals. “That’s why we have asked them to stop,’’ Kumar says. But he is mum on whether the images taken over a month would need to be handed over or censored. Google issued a statement that it was in talks with authorities to resolve the matter.

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