Bangalore cops tell Google to pull out Street View cars

NEW DELHI: Just three weeks after Google's Street View cars started driving around Bangalore, the company has grounded the fleet after an objection from the city police. According to Google, it received a letter from the Commissioner of Police of Bangalore asking it to stop the cars. The cars were taking pictures and mapping streets of Bangalore. The data was supposed to be used for Google's Street View service.

"We can confirm that we have received a letter from the commissioner of police regarding Street View. We are currently reviewing it and have stopped our cars until we have a chance to answer any questions or concerns the police have," said a Google spokesperson.

According to Google, it received the letter last week. Sources said the commissioner has asked the search engine giant to stop photographing streets of Bangalore. The commissioner has also called Google officials for further discussions on the matter. Before Street View cars started operating, Google claims it took permission from the traffic department of Bangalore police

According to MediaNama, the police have reservations regarding legality of Google's Street View in India. An anonymous source reportedly told the website that the police acted because there were several restrictions on photography by foreigners or foreign firms in India.

The police also reportedly consider Street View and the data presented through it as a form of new media, putting it under the ambit of foreign direct investment policy that governs investment and participation by foreign companies in Indian media.

Even though Google Street View has proven immensely popular with users, the service has faced resistance in several parts of the world. The data in Street View is not shown to users in real-time but there have been privacy concerns over its use.

In Austria and Czech Republic the service was banned temporarily. Recently, in April Google closed down Street View in Germany after privacy issues raised by the government and told European Union that it may withdraw the service from the member countries due to new laws on storing photographs.