Posted on 10/17/2007 3:10:34 PM PDT by sidetracked
I just found this during my daily job search... it's like the Google street view, only more... I'm very interested in seeing what fellow Freepers think about this in terms of privacy vs. freedom to take pictures of anything that you can see in public.
Job Description: Now hiring contract photographers for large real estate database. Job involves shooting outdoors in residential areas for 5-7 miles daily, 6 hours daily. Photographers take photographs of all properties along streets in the Toledo, OH area.
Process includes using ZAIO software to match photos to addresses. ZAIO provides the camera equipment, and photographers must be able to pass a background record check. 2-person team scenarios are also available
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Company Overview: Zaio is in the process of photographing and appraising each and every property in cities across the country. That means every house, commercial building, industrial and institutional structure is being photographed and appraised property-by-property and street-by-street. We call this historic event “Photographing America.”
The resulting database of images and valuations is called “GeoPic,” and is a useful resource for real estate, mortgage and insurance industries. The photographs are also an effective aid to police, fire and ambulance dispatching. Zaio has developed proprietary software and systems to continuously maintain and update the database as properties change and redevelopment occurs. Each photo is individually framed to strict GeoPic standards and photos are generally taken during summer months when landscaping is in full color. The database grows over time as updates constantly improve upon prior releases.
(Excerpt) Read more at careerbuilder.com ...
Sounds like my kind of job.
There’s a system right now that’s being marketed to police departments - the system mounts on a police car, and photographs cars as they drive along the street - both those they pass, and those that are parked. The system, for the police, tracks parking tickets, over parked cars, and stolen cars.
The image database, however, is owned by the company, and can later be used to provide a photographic history of cars. Their idea is to get these systems also into major intersections, to photograph cars, again, with the premise that it’ll catch red light violations, gross polluters, and speeders, but again, the database can be used for a photographic history of cars.
Privacy wise, it’s disturbing, but realistically, to put limits on such systems restricts everyone’s rights as well.
Remember that the 9-11 hijackers trained using Flight Simulator to examine landmarks to keep them on track.
There isn’t much that can be done to prohibit putting “everything” online, but there are people who mean us harm who will probably make use of such compiled data. As with the different “Earth view” satellite shots.
Maybe we need to build a fence at the propery line and face the homes to our backyards.
In the 1940’s every house, apartment house, and business in New York City was photographed.
A few years ago every house in Nassau County, New York was photographed by the County and put online.
Many town assessors do the same thing. You can look up property photos, ownership history, and sale prices online at lots of town/city Web sites.
What possible right of privacy is there is where we travel upon public highways and byways whilst in public view?
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