Israel opens its doors to Google Street View.
After months of delay, the government has authorized the photography of the country's streets to be integrated into the panoramic photography service of the American company.
247 – The Israeli government has given Google permission to collect images of the country for its Street View service. The Israeli Law, Information and Technology Authority (ILITA) released the authorization in an official statement published this Monday, the 22nd. However, the agency required that the Google cars responsible for photographing the streets be identified and that their routes be announced in advance. The faces and license plates photographed will be distorted in order to respect privacy, as is already done in other countries.
Google had requested permission from the Israelis months ago to integrate the country into its service. However, the country's authorities feared that the photographed buildings might be targets of an attack. Finally, a commission led by the Minister of Communication, Dan Méridorm, granted permission to the company.
Despite the authorization, there are still Israeli government agencies that oppose the release of Google Street View. The Association for the Defense of Civil Rights (ACRI) is one of them and believes that the use of the service is an invasion of privacy. Google Street View was launched in 2007 and provides 3D panoramic images of urban areas, allowing its users to take a kind of "virtual tour," a fact that has already generated a series of controversies in several countries.
In May 2010, Google announced that its cars had driven through the streets of more than 30 international cities to take photos and had collected, without authorization, a large amount of personal data transmitted over unsecured Wi-Fi networks. Despite the internet company's apology, many countries opened investigations into the matter.