Posted on 05/20/2009 9:24:29 PM PDT by JoeProBono
It might be time for a Google Map pinpointing all the places where people have a problem with Google Street View. Pin the latest tack on that map on Germany, whose data protection regulator has threatened the company with sanctions unless it changes certain practices involved in providing its service. For the uninitiated, Google Street View trucks — and tricycles — travel the globe, taking photos of, you guessed it, streets.
The company started Street View a couple of years ago to enhance Google Maps, and the feature has amassed a devoted following: Some people use it to scope out a location or two while planning a trip; others use it to travel to faraway places from the comfort of their desktops; the enterprising have started Web sites devoted to keeping track of the inadvertent amusement some of the (removed) photos bring.
Germany apparently has strict rules on photographing people and their property, but the country’s regulators aren’t the first ones to make demands of Google regarding Street View. The service has hit a roadblock in other countries. Let’s take a trip around the world where Street View has run into opposition — official and otherwise. First stop is Japan, where the Street View photographers (drivers?) have to reshoot images because they were shot from too high an angle, allowing views into Tokyo back yards that were a tad too invasive for the Japanese. Next destination: Greece. The Hellenic Data Protection Authority has banned further Street View work while it awaits information from Google about its privacy practices. Next, we’re off to England, where a bunch of angry villagers blocked the driver of a Street View car last month. The last stop is closer to home: In Canada, Google has blurred faces and other “personal identifiers,” apparently after that nation’s federal privacy commissioner raised concerns.
In the United States, Street View has had its share of road bumps in the form of protests and lawsuits. (See Boring Street View lawsuit comes to anticlimactic end.) But two years after its launch, it has become a mostly accepted part of life here. Are we just more resigned to the fact that privacy is an old-fashioned notion? That in this age of technology, we should embrace technological innovations as whiz-bang new features instead of casting a wary eye on them? Should Google keep going in its quest to expand Street View, regardless of how much it will take to fight the privacy obstacles that will continue to follow?
If you have nothing to hide why would you mind Street View?
It’s the people who are hiding something who have to worry.
It’ll make it easier for the brown shirts in conjunction with the census takers using the GPS coordinates (all being stored in supercomputers near you.
They photographed my house in the middle of winter and it looks crappy. That could affect a sale if I put it up on the market someday.
Look like an Orwellian vision.
Looks like an Orwellian vision.
That’s a good point. Because recently we were looking to buy a rental property and we used Google Street View to evaluate the property. I wonder how many times people would forego even considering purchasing a property based on how it looks in Street View?
When you type in the address of my business it gives you a picture of my competition, not my shop. Yes, that pisses me off.
Can I take my own pictures to submit for them... I’m thinking my house should look like the Alligator pit at the zoo....
It’s also great for moving to a new location and getting a feel for the lay of the land. When looking at homes across the US, we were able to look at local parks via Street View and found some homes that definitely intersted us more after viewing their surroundings. It definitely helps you hone in on things with the house hunting.
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