By Flemming Moos

The DPO of Hamburg was also called into action in June, when Google sent cars onto the city’s streets to capture images for its Street View service. A dispute arose between Google and the Hamburg DPO about the data protection implications of Street View. The dispute has been settled, and Google has agreed to erase data (even in raw data files) depicting people, property, or cars, upon request.

To this end, Google will offer users the opportunity to demand erasure or blurring of such information, and will comply with such requests, before the online publication of the pictures, in case the people or properties are identifiable. Photo subjects will also be able to object after publication of the pictures.

Moreover, Google promised to establish a so-called “list of procedures” for the Street View service, which will describe the data processing steps and the purposes and scope of the collection, processing, and use of personal data. Finally, Goggle agreed to present to the Hamburg DPO a description of the organizational and technical protection measures being taken to ensure data security and compliance with German data protection rules.

Flemming Moos is an attorney at DLA Piper and the chair of the IAPP KnowledgeNet in Hamburg, Germany. He is a certified specialist for information technology law and a member of the IAPP Publications Advisory Board. He can be reached at flemming.moos@dlapiper.com.