Europe Blog
Our views on the Internet and society
Street View and Child Safety
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Since we launched Street View last week in the UK, giving users 360 degree street level views of 25 British cities, we've been overwhelmed by the generally positive feedback and seen record-breaking numbers of users visiting the site.
Then we woke up this morning to an accusation concerning the safety of children. The Independent on Sunday published an article about our Street View cameras picking up a picture of toddlers playing in a small local park in London, one of whom appeared to be naked.
Since publication, the Independent on Sunday has agreed to correct the original story, which painted a highly misleading picture, but the article did raise serious issues about the inadvertent publication of photographs which may be inappropriate on a public platform.
The photographs in this case were not revealing. They showed a typical family picnic in a public park on a summer's day, with children playing. It's important to note that none of the images in Street View are live, they were taken last year. The child in question was some distance from the camera and could only be made out properly at the highest zoom level, meaning that the image already appeared blurred due to the low resolution. He or she was not facing the camera, so could not be identified. And where other people's faces appeared in the image our automatic blurring tool had worked well, to make sure that none of the faces could be identified.
Nevertheless, we take issues around inappropriate content in our products very seriously, and we removed the images within an hour of being notified. For us, privacy and user choice remain paramount. This is why we have put in place tools so that if people see what they believe to be inappropriate images, or simply don't want themselves, their family, their house or car to appear, they can report them to us using the simple tools and the images will be quickly removed.
At Google we are committed to protecting child safety. We support parents' efforts to educate and protect their children when they go online through policies like YouTube's Community Guidelines and easy-to-use technologies like SafeSearch. It's important for us all to be vigilant in the area of child safety, but also to keep things in perspective.
Posted by D-J Collins, Director, Communication and Public Affairs, Europe, Middle East and Africa
Street View and You
Friday, March 20, 2009
Want to cycle along the historic Amsterdam canals while sitting at your desk? Or stroll down chic Old Bond Street? This is now possible thanks to Google Street View, which launched yesterday in the UK and the Netherlands. Street View is a feature of Google Maps that allows people to explore and navigate a neighbourhood visually, through panoramic street-level photographs. It's proved very popular wherever it's been launched around the world, from the Australian Outback to the Champs Elysees.
We've been overwhelmed with positive feedback from people who have used Street View to check out a holiday destination or reconnect with somewhere they used to live. At the same time, we've seen some misunderstandings and exaggerations about the product: are Street View images spying on people? How do we protect an individual's privacy? Is this a new tool for burglars?
Firstly, imagery for Street View is created as our cars drive along public roads and take pictures from cameras mounted on their rooftops. The coverage you see on Street View isn't real-time.
Secondly, when taking images for Street View it is inevitable that we also capture some images of people who happen to be walking by. Not only are these images not real-time, but we've also developed state-of-the-art face blurring and licence plate blurring technologies, so there shouldn’t be identifiable faces or licence plates in our imagery. As a contingency, in the event that blurring software may not work perfectly, we created a simple process for anyone to contact us to have their image removed. Likewise, users can flag--and we will remove--any images that are inappropriate. Since launching yesterday in The UK and The Netherlands, we have received very few removal requests. Where removals or further blurring have been requested, in the majority of cases images have been removed within hours.
In most countries where we already have launched Street View--Australia and France, for example -- privacy regulators have recognized our efforts. In the UK, we were pleased but not surprised to gain the approval of the Information Commissioner's Office when we started collecting imagery. "We are satisfied that Google is putting in place adequate safeguards to avoid any risk to the privacy or safety of individuals, including the blurring of vehicle registration marks and the faces of anyone included in Street View images," the Commissioner's Office said.
Then there's the question about whether Street View allows burglars to research potential targets more easily. The imagery available on Street View is no different from what people can see when walking down the street themselves or when viewing images which are already widely available on a number of real estate and directory sites. Saying that Street View is enabling crime is like blaming the motor industry for crime because criminals also use getaway cars.
In fact, when we spoke to the Metropolitan Police in the UK, they told us that they have seen no evidence that Street View could lead to a rise in crime. Indeed they believe that mapping can be useful in raising awareness locally about crime and helping people take action to prevent it. This backs up what we have heard from other countries where we have launched Street View. For example, police officers in America used Street View to find the location of a kidnapped child and Australian police to show the location of a crime and appeal for witnesses.
We work with a strong belief that knowledge is good and that everybody should have access to it. Europeans realize that they will benefit from this new digital world only if the right balance is struck between individual privacy and empowering people to obtain access to information about the world around them. We think we've struck a balance with Street View, but why not take a look and find out for yourself.
Posted by Gavin McGinty, Product Counsel
Introducing Google's European Public Policy Blog
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Welcome to Google's new voice on public policy in Europe.
Since its beginning, Google has taken an innovative approach to achieving its mission of organizing information and making it accessible and useful. This includes how we communicate with policy makers and users. We don't merely publish position papers or press releases, but a blog. We want to be transparent about our positions and the reasons behind them.
Google's European policy team represents our messages and opinions in Brussels and around Europe, engaging with policymakers and the press on issues that affect the Internet and its role in modern society. You can expect to see us post about the benefits of the open internet, open standards, freedom of speech, innovation, competition, user information and user choice, along with variety of pressing policy topics ranging from privacy, copyright and trademark protection, content regulation, and broadband policy.
In 2007, we introduced Google's Public Policy blog edited out of Washington. As Andrew McLaughlin, our Global Director of Public Policy and Government Affairs said at the time of that launch: "Yes, we're a multinational corporation that argues for our positions before officials, legislators, and opinion leaders. At the same time, we want our users to be part of the effort, to know what we're saying and why, and to help us refine and improve our policy positions and advocacy strategies. With input and ideas from our users, we'll surely do a better job of fighting for our common interests."
This rationale remains the same, only now we're "going local" and bringing the same Googley style to public policy communications to Europe. European-based Googlers will write and edit. You may wonder why the blog contains more than a months' worth of posts, given that we're only just now launching. We tested out the blog internally to limber up our blogging muscles. Now that we're going public, we thought it'd be fun to share our earlier internal posts. In the weeks and months ahead, expect to hear more from us on all sorts of issues.
We hope this blog will serve as a resource for policy stakeholders, the press and users throughout Europe. We welcome a conversation - feedback is vital - so please do leave your comments below.
Posted by Simon Hampton & Susan Pointer, Directors for European Public Policy and Government Affairs
Embracing Openness in Europe - Revisited
Monday, March 9, 2009
Europe is getting on the Open Standards bandwagon. Since we last blogged on this subject more than two years ago, much progress is to be reported.
First and foremost, the UK government recently published a Government Action Plan on Open Source, Open Standards and Re-use. It created a separate website which contains links to blog posts, news stories and tweets about UK government, open source and open standards. This development attracted much comment in the British press.
The Dutch also have progressed. In addition to the action plan published last year, the Dutch government has created a separate government body that advises the public sector about the best way to implement open source and open standards. Recently the Dutch Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis published a report on competition, innovation and intellectual property rights in software markets. This study analyzes how best to stimulate open source software. In response to this report the Secretary of State of Economic Affairs announced that the national government's web site, to be launched this autumn, will be based on open source software. Similar developments are taking place in Poland.
Last but not least, the European Commission takes a clear interest in promoting open source software and open standards. In a speech of at a seminar in June last year, Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes stated, “ I know a smart business decision when I see one – choosing open standards is a very smart business decision indeed.”
Google remains convinced that openness is the key to innovation, and innovation is the key to future growth and development of the European Union. So it is from this perspective that Google supports all initiatives of national governments throughout Europe to support the use of open source software and open standards.
Posted by Machiel Bolhuis, European Policy Manager
Welcome to the Cloud Generation
Friday, February 20, 2009
When I recently traveled to Brussels to speak about Google’s vision for computing, I was pleased to learn how many of our ideas are shared at the European Commission. Both of us are betting on "cloud" computing, where we no longer are doing most of our computing on the desktop, but on the net, through webmail, blogs, posting photos and searching for information.
Information Society Commissioner Viviane Reding has recognized this phenomenon - and the fantastic prospects it offers for Europe. In a speech about a year and a half ago, she noted that she believes the "European software industry" will be able "to ride the rising wave of on-line software." Cloud computing, she added, "will place a new emphasis on open and interoperable systems that can be upgraded and joined together in networks" and "see a shift towards open standards and indeed open source software."
Since the Commissioner's encouraging statements, much progress have been made. In the past, the best technology was launched in the workplace. Now, the best technology starts with consumers. Only a year ago, the costs of an internal video service were prohibitive. No longer. One of my teams is currently working on the next generation of video instant messaging that brings video-conferencing within the realm of any business. Here's a full copy of the presentation I made to European parliamentarians.
The cloud will enable companies to save costs, particularly small businesses. In the past, businesses needed to make big investment in computers and software for accounting systems, customer management systems, email servers, maybe even phone or video conferencing systems. Today, all of those services are available via the network cloud, and you pay for it only as you use it. Sophisticated computer systems, previously the realm of larger companies, suddenly are available to all.
When we at Google and other web-born companies such as Salesforce.com or Amazon built our robust platforms for our own services, we started to rent access to our data centres to other companies. Data centres involve huge fixed cost investments, but we're offering server capacity that you can scale as your business succeeds.
I concluded with the message at how this move to online computing promises a radical transformation crucial to Europe’s future competitiveness. My audience at the European Parliament seemed to understand, particularly when I mentioned how Barack Obama used the net to propel forward his presidential campaign. European parliament elections are scheduled for June and many parliamentarians asked how they too could benefit from moving their campaigns into the cloud.
Posted by Rian Liebenberg, Engineering Director
Freedom or control of the Internet?
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Google consistently emphasises the importance of the open Internet. So when the European Parliament Greens approached us to talk about controlling the Internet, and the Liberals sought our views on freedom of expression, we jumped at the chance. With commercial forces at work in the EU, and political motivations present in some third countries, now is clearly the time to talk up the importance of enabling the Internet to continue providing a platform for free speech and for new business models.
Fortunately our views are shared by many. Commissioner Reding and Reporters Without Borders spoke passionately at the Liberal's event, while an array of business and civil society representatives spoke at that of the Greens, including [French Data Network], the Internet Society, La Quadrature du Net, the TACD, BEUC, APRIL and OFE (of which we are member).
And there are reasons to be optimistic. The Internet has enabled huge repositories of information to emerge, such as Wikipaedia or our own Knoll, which are globally available for free. We're seeing rights holders adopt new opportunities created by YouTube's Video-ID system, and the net neutrality debate is now clearly focused on addressing concerns about vertical integration - something that telecoms policy makers do have a lot of experience in considering.
Posted by Simon Hampton, European Policy Director
Safer Social Networking and Self Regulation
Monday, February 16, 2009
Although there are European laws in place to protect online users (remember, if an act is illegal offline it's illegal online also), legislative processes can be time consuming and have the potential to be out of date before they can be enforced. That's why self-regulation is a crucial tool for industry be able react quickly to immediate policy needs. We applaud the European Commission also for recognising the need for this approach.
On Safer Internet Day, earlier this week, Google signed up to support the "Safer Social Networking Principles" that were agreed between online service providers with the help of the European Commission through its Social Networking Taskforce. We think this is a great initiative and precisely the right approach to be taken to help protect young people on social networking services.
Obviously Google itself is not a social networking service but some elements of certain services do have social elements and we will endeavor to uphold the principles. On YouTube for example, we give users a wealth of safety information in our "Safety Tips" centre featuring tips and guidance on topics like teen safety, cyber citizenship, cyberbullying, hateful content, and privacy. We'll be making a full self-assessment of the principles and our services by April, along with all the other signatories.
The creation of the principles is another step in the developing the maturing self-regulatory approach to child protection on-line, building on initiatives such as Teach Today.
Posted by Luc Delany, European Policy Associate
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