Italy slaps restrictions on Google's Street View

Italy's privacy regulator on Monday announced restrictions on Google's Street View mapping service, echoing privacy concerns aired elsewhere in Europe.

Google cars must now "be clearly identifiable by signs and stickers" indicating they will be taking pictures for Street View, the regulator said in a statement.

Google must also publish on its website the names of the areas it intends to photograph three days ahead and publish the same information in at least two local newspapers and a radio station so residents can choose to stay away.

Google risks fines of up to 180,000 euros (252,000 dollars) for violating the new Italian curbs.

The California company has rolled out Street View in 20 countries but it faces strong resistance in some places due to concerns over invasion of privacy.

In September, the Czech data protection authority banned Google from collecting Street View data because its cameras were set too high and in Germany, Google agreed to block images of houses on request.

Last week, Spain's data protection authority filed a suit against Google for allegedly capturing other data from Internet users when it collected images for Street View.

In May, Italy's privacy regulatory opened an investigation into Google after the company acknowledged having mistakenly gathered personal data via Street View.

(c) 2010 AFP