Germans Debate Privacy With Google

The German government’s stringent data protection laws have often put it in conflict with Web companies like Google, and it met with Internet companies today to find solutions as demands for government regulation intensify. Hundreds of thousands of Germans have requested that their homes be left out of Google’s Street View, and the government will scrutinize Google’s compliance with its own promise to honor those requests for privacy–but Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere, who hosted today’s meeting, said he doesn’t expect Street View to be banned.