EU – Baltic States, Internet, Latvia, Legislation, Technology

Yesterday Google informed the Data State Inspectorate about the launch of the "StreetView" service in Latvia, the Justice Ministry's spokeswoman Laura Pakalne told LETA. In order to do this, the company plans to start taking panoramic pictures in Riga and Riga Region, also in Daugavpils, Jekabpils, Jelgava, Jurmala, Liepaja, Rezekne, Valmiera, Ventspils and other Latvian cities.

The Data State Inspectorate has information that in doing so, "Google" stores not only street photographs from various cities but also other data, for instance, such that are sent via open WiFi networks.

The Data State Inspectorate points out that "Google" will only be able to proceed with the plan if personal data are properly protected in accordance with the European Union's Data Protection Directive 95/46/EC and Latvia's Personal Data Protection Law. This means that, before taking pictures, the mass media will have to be notified about where and when pictures will be taken, for what purpose this will be done, and how the data will be processed.

Pakalne said that several other EU data protection authorities were also investigating whether the "StreetView" service complied with the EU privacy regulations.