Google Street View Launches In UK, Creates Privacy Storm In A Teacup
Google can’t stop creating these Will-Smith-in-Enemy-of-the-State-type paranoia situations. Fresh from social awkwardness nexus Google Latitude, yesterday they launched their UK version of Google’s Street View, a service that offers a ground-level glimpse of locations on Google Maps.
The service currently can view streets in 25 British cities and other major UK towns will become available for viewing in the near future. It records real images provided by patrol cars with panopticon cameras mounted on their roofs taking 360-degree images. Users can type in an address and view it as an ordinary map, a satellite image, or a 3D photograph and take a “stroll’ through a panorama of their street or “wave” at a neighbor who has been caught in the still.
Google has been the topic of complaints (as per usual) in regards to privacy, as people don’t so much like being captured on hidden cameras. Parents have also expressed concern with Street View over the device compromising the security of their children.
The head of Google UK, Matt Brittin, defended the company’s 3D Street View. ”It is a great product and we have talked to the Information Commissioner’s Office about the product, what it does and how we have built privacy [elements] into it. We have also talked to the Metropolitan police and they have said it actually helps track and monitor crime.” Not sure how that one’s going to work, unless the camera guys happened to be in the right place at the right time.
Google said: “We blur faces in Street View and we offer easy-to-use removal tools so users can decide for themselves whether or not they want a given image to appear in Street View. “ Brittin said the service has a “report a concern” button if people would like to have images removed from the service.
In recent months Google has come under fire for an array of mistakes and privacy slip ups with Gmail’s occasional crashes, the Google AdSense outage, and Google Docs accidentally sharing people’s personal files. And so it begins with Street View: a leading privacy group has asked the US Federal Trade Commission to shut down Google’s web services until it establishes safeguards for confidential information and privacy.
But come on! People are acting like it provides a real-time feed of your daily activities, when really it’s just single snapshot. If you think your privacy is being invaded with a shot of your blurred face walking down the street, then you probably don’t leave the house very much in the first place. Get over it, world!
Though if you want to see some hot sunbathing babes on Street View, as well as guys busted walking into adult book stores, out of strip joints, and attempting to break and enter a house, click here. Look, you can’t really see their faces. Except the strip club guy.
Posted by Trista Orchard in Sci-tech | March 20, 2009 2:39PM |
March 20th, 2009 at 9:25 pm
My nightmare scenario is being the guy walking by a pedophiles’ house and getting my photo snapped. Then, when the story breaks, I’m associated with the crime.
The problem with the “report a concern” privacy protections” is that you usually don’t recognize the threat until AFTER something happens. Like the guy in Oregon whose address showed up on a sex-offender website. The thugs who showed up to kick some ass didn’t realize that the sex offender had moved out a new guy had moved in. I doubt the guy sat in the hospital in traction and thought “man, I really should have checked that sex offender site before renting the house.”
March 23rd, 2009 at 3:40 pm
The issue is less one thing it’s the consistent erosion of our privacy by new technologies with no thought to the overall implications or where it may end up in the future. If we’re not discussing what’s acceptable now then we may lose our chance.
Why is it ok to put images of people and their private property online which requires them to be aware the image is there and then to opt out rather than offering people the chance to opt in instead?
When you look across all the online property they own does it not disconcert you a like to know that Google may know more about you and your life than your friends or family (or the government)? Shouldn’t control of our personal data rest with each individual, not with a stranger whose motives may not be in keeping with our wishes as to how we want that data used?
While, yes, this is paranoid – giving up tiny little pieces of our rights here and there may seem like nothing on their own – but together they add up to a great big whole and once they’re gone they could well be gone for good.