14 DAY TRIAL // Italian authorities are ordering Google to agree to some concessions like clearly marking its cars and announcing the residents of an area where the cars will shoot three days in advance.
Google's Street View program continues to prove problematic for the company in terms of its relationship with various data privacy agencies and it didn't do itself any favors with the WiFi data collection fiasco.
La Stampa, a local paper, has said that Google will be required to announce the path of its Street View cars in any locality and even for regions of large cities at least three days before deploying them.
The company will have to make the announcement on its website, in local newspapers and even on radio to ensure that the public is informed.
It is not the first place where Google has been asked to announce when its cars will be deployed. Google does disclose this type of information, but generally only covers a larger time frame and location.
The company has said previously that various conditions like weather, traffic and so on make it hard for it to predict where its cars will shoot too much time in advance.
What's more, Google will also be required to clearly mark its cars as Street View cars. While Google doesn't regularly brand its cars, the camera equipment mounted on a pole on top of the cars is easily recognizable.
Google has not commented on the details of the report, but provided a standard answer saying that it is always discussing with authorities about this type of issues. Furthermore, it said that it already announces where its cars are planned to shoot in several ways.
There have been a number of concerns about Google's Street View and authorities as well as privacy groups have complained about the product. This was before Google revealed that it had been collecting public WiFi data by mistake.