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stories filed under: "switzerland"
Legal Issues

Legal Issues

by Mike Masnick

Fri, Nov 13th 2009 2:54pm


Filed Under:
privacy, street view, switzerland

Companies:
google



Switzerland Continues To Fight Google Street View; Takes Google To Court

from the swiss-neutrality dept

A few months ago, when Google launched its "Street View" tool in Switzerland, the government got upset and told Google to take the site down because it violated people's privacy. This was despite the fact that Google had been discussing the project with the government and put in place multiple privacy safeguards, including blurring faces and license plates. Apparently, it wasn't enough. Mr. LemurBoy alerts us to the news that Switzerland is now taking Google to court over Street View, claiming that it doesn't blur people enough, and that sometimes the cameras can see over fences or walls. Of course, anyone walking down the street can see the same things as well, and if they're tall enough, they can see over walls. Is Switzerland going to take tall people to court as well?

25 Comments | Leave a Comment..

 
Legal Issues

Legal Issues

by Mike Masnick

Mon, Aug 24th 2009 7:26pm


Filed Under:
privacy, street view, switzerland

Companies:
google



Switzerland Tells Google To Take Down Street View

from the how-dare-you-provide-a-useful-service dept

Following a bunch of other countries, it looks like Switzerland is the latest to freak out over Google Street View and to ban it, just a week after it was introduced. Google is apparently surprised by this move, noting that it had been talking to the Swiss gov't and had a bunch of privacy safeguards in place, which seemed to be working. Of course, you have to ask, are there surveillance cameras in Switzerland? If so, why is that okay when Google's Street View is not? Surveillance cameras are real-time. Street View is not. Surveillance cameras do not blur faces/license plates. Street View does. Why is one allowed and the other not? Of course, given how many local gov'ts have freaked out about Street View, it does make you wonder why Google would launch it these days without first having assurances from the gov't that it would be okay.

20 Comments | Leave a Comment..

 
Legal Issues

Legal Issues

by Mike Masnick

Fri, Jun 5th 2009 10:55am


Filed Under:
file sharing, privacy, switzerland

Companies:
logistep



Switzerland Decides That It's Ok For Private Firm To Violate Your Privacy If It's Searching For 'Pirates'

from the unfortunate dept

Last year, Swiss officials told Logistep -- one of a few companies that tries to scan file sharing networks for IPs used by suspected copyright infringers -- that its efforts were an illegal violation of privacy rights. However, a new court ruling has overturned that original ruling, and has said that Logistep is perfectly legal. The court appears to have said that preventing piracy somehow trumps privacy rights -- which seems kind of odd. I'm actually not a huge fan of claims (or lawsuits) that such services violate privacy. I'm not entirely clear how your basic IP address is "private." It's "public" by default, in that your computer uses it publicly to identify itself, so I'm not clear how that's automatically seen as "private" info. However, it seems odd to claim that simply tracking unauthorized usage trumps privacy rights. If that's the case, you have no privacy rights at all, because officials could just claim that they're violating your privacy to prevent any crime you might be committing. So, while I think it's a bit silly to declare IP addresses private, if they are considered private then I have a hard time seeing why Logistep should be allowed to do what it does.

13 Comments | Leave a Comment..

 
Legal Issues

Legal Issues

by Mike Masnick

Tue, Jan 29th 2008 10:18am


Filed Under:
antipiracy, privacy, switzerland



Swiss Officials Tell Anti-Piracy Company Its Tactics Are Illegal

from the sneaky,-sneaky dept

There have been some claims that the recording industry's investigative techniques may be illegal. While court cases alleging these techniques are illegal are still pending in the US, in Europe there seems to be a lot more support for the idea. In the Netherlands, for example, a court ruled that having ISPs hand over IP addresses to the recording industry would be a violation of privacy laws. Given last week's discussion on whether or not IP addresses should be considered private, this seems relevant.

However, over in Switzerland, the story is even more complicated, as Swiss officials have specifically told an "anti-piracy" company to stop some of its tactics. Specifically, in order to get around laws that say you can only obtain IP addresses from ISPs in a criminal, rather than civil lawsuit, the company gets Swiss officials to file criminal charges, gets the IP address, files a civil suit with it, and then drops the criminal case. Whether or not you think getting IP addresses is a violation of privacy, it seems clear that this company has gone well beyond the spirit of the law in getting them and using them in civil suits.

6 Comments | Leave a Comment..

 
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