Google Street View incidents have already hit the web from a lot of directions, but these follies are still a great subject for some opinionated TechMiso seasoning. So here it goes–
…angry residents in Milton Keynes blocked the driver of a Google Street View car when he started taking photographs of their homes.
A troubling response from residents of the affluent type.
Google [we can assume] is an exceptionally smart corporation who – like all foreign companies doing business in the UK – is expected to follow UK law to the ‘T’ — especially when snapping photographs of ‘another country’ for its Google Street View service.
So why would the folks near Milton Keynes [who already live under a society plastered with CCTV surveillance cameras] become so defiant about their homes being photographed by a Google Street View vehicle?
With or without Google, vandals and robbers bent on stealing from these folks will steal regardless of how they stake out the place.
But what if it’s not Google snapping pictures. ‘What if’ the photographer is a passing pedestrian snapping shots say, for architectural interest? Does the passerby’s innocent activity warrant a confrontational run-in and say, maybe a camera confiscated by a few lawless villagers?
Just for humor points — consider the cheating spouse who [already ran a considerable risk] when being caught in his act. Ask this gentleman if Google is at fault because his wife spied his Rover on Google Street View — parked outside another woman’s house.
Google’s fault? Not likely.
The underlying problem is not with Google Street View and its collection of data, but rather with the gentleman caught cheating. Or potentially with the UK law that permits photography in public places — like the streets of Milton Keynes.
99.(six nines) percent of the time, Google Street View offers up fabulous views of our world — through its freely shared geospatial data — and with an easy-to-use web interface. On the rare event Google captures something distasteful, they self-admittedly remove it with reasonable quickness upon being notified.
We all knew what was up Google’s sleeve when Google Earth arrived on the scene back in summer 2005. Seeing your house from above in 2005 -or- seeing it now from both above and from the street — geospatial data is here to stay. Images of [cheating husbands, deer accidents and puking party goers] are collateral damage, like it, or not.
Are Google Street View ‘victims’ just the price we pay in collecting geospatial data?
Google is everywhere these days, they were even driving around in my little village (with only 1100 residents), all the way up to our house to take pictures (we live about 250 meters outside the village).
April 7, 2009 @ 01:53
Hey Yorick, how does that make you feel? Like an invasion of privacy or would you chalk it up to technology and progress?
April 7, 2009 @ 11:17
I don't mind it that much, probably because I take pictures from other people just like they do :P
April 7, 2009 @ 17:03
It seems like people are trying to pass the buck. Wouldn't the result be the same if someone had innocently videotaped the car when ambulances or a weather story had been nearby, maybe the local news cameras capturing it?
I doubt anyone would fault the TV station the news program was on, and it feels like people should follow precedent. Media isn't the problem, it's whether or not the car was there in the first place.
April 7, 2009 @ 17:38
I agree. It's not about who is doing the capturing but about getting caught. It's getting easier to get caught doing things that you don't want others to know about. It all boils down to morals, ethics, and personal integrity. I like privacy as much as anyone, but if you don't have anything to hide, you can't get caught doing anything wrong. A perfect example would be an Exchange system administrator who has been reading her boss's email for the last year because she has an ongoing conflict and wants to keep one up on what's happening with her situation. This person, IMO, deserves to be caught and prosecuted to the fullest, as well as the cheating spouse, etc.
April 8, 2009 @ 12:05
I wish someone would let me know when they are going to be in the neighborhood. I would place a big GOeFAST.com logo on my house and get some serious advertising.
I believe it is a serious invasion of privacy if they happen to capture my kids or my wife. They don't need to be broad casted to the world.
My inlaws are actually shown on the clip at their home working in the garden.
Lou
April 8, 2009 @ 22:12
That is a good idea Lou
June 26, 2009 @ 17:20