Google 'Berned' By Swiss Court

Image via WikipediaGoogle, Inc., the Mountain View, Calif.-based Internet search engine leviathan, must be doing something wrong, given that it has even managed to make the ever-neutral Swiss belligerent.

According to an Associated Press story, the Swiss Federal Administrative Court has ordered Google to guarantee anonymity regarding publication of license plates and faces before green-lighting Google's Street View project's generating of street-level photos. The ruling, which the Internet search engine company could appeal to the Swiss Supreme Federal Court, is the latest blow to Google since the company admitted "inadvertently" compiling personal data from unsecured wireless networks during the Street View mapping project (See "TUOL" post 3/22/11).

Google temporarily ceased uploading images of Swiss cities in 2009 because of complaints by Switzerland's agency charged with protecting data privacy. Canada, Australia, Germany, France, Great Britain and the Czech Republic are among nations that have taken up a cudgel against Google's Street View data gathering.