India: Bangalore stops Google Street View

Google launched Street View in Bangalore last month

Google has stopped collecting images for its Street View service in the southern Indian city of Bangalore after objections from police.

Police in Bangalore said they had security concerns and that Bangalore was a "highly sensitive" area.

Google launched its project to collect high definition images to give Google users 360 degree views of streets only last month in Bangalore.

Google data collection has caused concern in numerous countries.

Cameras mounted on cars and tricycles had been taking pictures in streets across Bangalore.

"We received a letter from Bangalore's commissioner of police and are reviewing it. We will not be collecting any more images for Street View until we speak to the police," a Google spokeswoman told AFP.

Police told the BBC that they had expressed concern about the project and said they asked Google to seek clearance from India's ministry of home and external affairs.

Bangalore's additional police commissioner, Sunil Kumar, said that Bangalore, home to key defence and scientific institutions such as Indian Space Research Organisation and Hindustan Aeronautics, was high on the list of terror targets.

In 2008 a series of bombs exploded around the city, killing one woman and injuring several others.

But Google India's Product Head Vinay Goel told India's CNN-IBN news channel that they were "only driving on public roads and taking publicly available imagery."

Last year almost 250,000 Germans told Google to blur pictures of their homes on the Street View service and the Czech government also banned Google from taking any new photos for the service.

In the UK Google has also agreed to delete private emails and passwords mistakenly picked up from wireless networks by its Street View cars.