Update: Business Standard quotes T Sunil, Assistant Commissioner of the Bangalore Police, as saying that Google had failed to get clearances from the Central Government, and Ministry of Defence. We reiterate the point we made earlier (read below) - if an international photographer doesn't need permission to take photographs of Indian streets, why should Google's Street View cars? Earlier: Exclusive: Google has paused it's Street View project in India, the company has confirmed to MediaNama, stating that they received a letter from the Commissioner of Police regarding street view, and decided to stop Street View cars from plying in Bangalore for the time being. The company hasn't commented on the content of the letter it received. In response to a query from MediaNama, a Google Spokesperson wrote back, stating that: "We can confirm that we received a letter from the Commissioner of Police regarding Street View. We are currently reviewing it and have stopped our cars until we have a chance to answer any questions or concerns the Police have." We had asked Google some questions on permissions and data collections at the time of the Street View launch. Read their responses here. The company had said then that it had taken a formal approval from the traffic department of the Bangalore Police for Google Street View. Is Street View Publishing Media? We had contacted Google following an anonymous tip-off we received, which stated: "google street view has been stopped by bangalore police as policy on foreign companies to collect such data is…
