Google SnoopMobiles in Canada
p2pnet news view Freedom | P2P:- The chances of Google employees showing up to take pictures of p2pnet’s palatial headquarters on the Republic of Vancouver Island aren’t high.
But company minions are busily snapping snooporama pics of everyone else, everywhere else, whether they like it or not —-
—- and sometimes getting it wrong.
Ask Paul McCartney.
Hotbeds of Anti-Google Maqui, epitomised by the citizens of Broughton in Cambridgeshire, England, are showing determined resistance to the incursion of Google camcars, such as the one on the right.
Examples such as this are few and far between, however, and Google otherwise does pretty much whatever it wants. And few seem unduly bothered.
Now its Street View photographers are to be loosed in Canada.
Says the Winnipeg Sun, “In coming weeks, web users will be able to access millions of eye-level snapshots arranged to provide a 360-degree panorama of major metropolitan areas — easily searched through Google Maps and Google Earth.
“These snapshots will include raw images of everything that happens to be in view — including residences, passersby and any other activity” and already, “many people are up in arms about their privacy being invaded by these snooping cameras,” says the story.
But, “Hold it a minute folks,” it goes on. “This isn’t a series of cameras poking through your windows, between the drapes, trying to catch you in various stages of undressing.”
Oh. So that’s OK, then.
But wait!
“Winnipeg privacy lawyer Brian Bowman thinks it’s a ‘cool’ idea but is watching closely how the federal privacy commissioner rules on it,” says the story, adding »»»
“Privacy lawyers are waiting with bated breath to see what the privacy commissioner has to say about this, because it has implications far beyond Google Street View. I think this is the beginning of this story, not the end,” he told the Winnipeg Sun.
He’s right it is cool. He’s also correct that the practice will set legal precedents for new media and surveillance in Canada.
The feds claim they are in “high level” talks with Google as their road crews get ready to roll. With the safeguards Google has in place, people’s privacy doesn’t appear to be in jeopardy. It would be different if these camera crews barged on people’s property without their permission but that isn’t the case here.
In an era where Canadians’ privacy is being guarded more than ever, once in awhile, there’s a tendency to go too far.
Is this a case in point?
Stay tuned.
Paul McCartney – Google misnumbers Paul McCartney’s house, March 28, 2009
determined resistance – UK Google Street View (mis)adventure, April 3, 2009
Winnipeg Sun – Privacy not in jeopardy, April 7, 2009
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April 7th, 2009 at 4:18 pm
Google’s Streetview isn’t some kind of real-time surveillance, it’s a series of still images that don’t show anything that can’t be seen by anyone driving down that same street. I’ve used it several times to get an idea of what an area looks like before actually going there.
How many times have you tried to find a particular destination and ended up driving back and forth, trying to figure out why the numbers jump from 204 to 298? Wouldn’t it be nice to explore the area virtually first?
They have pictures of my house online. So what? There are people driving up and down the street every day, should I go out and demand that they not look at my house as they drive past?
April 7th, 2009 at 8:50 pm
I know that this kind of opinion is not popular with the people watching out for the black helicopters, and the people who feel that the government is listening in on every conversation that is made on either the internet or the phone, but I seriously have to agree with the RW above.
I have found street view to be invaluable to “checkout the neighborhood” of a house that I am considering to rent/buy, and I would rather do my initial checks virtualy, and online, instead of driving by the area on the weekends or at night, after work.
I have also found street view very handy in showing people who come from overseas, where a particular store or site is in Tokyo (may it be the Tokyo Tower, or a low price Hard disk store in Akihabara-the electronics district). When I went to Paris last year for the first time, I tried to use street view (Paris’ street view is limited to the route used for some bicycle race I hear) to get a feel of where I would be.
And as an American living in Japan, I really appreciate the ability to see the house where my grandparents lived, as well as the houses where my parents, brother’s family and sister’s family live- and show it to my children who have not been able to travel to these locations yet.
While I greatly understand the need for privacy, I also feel that this sort of service is very important. Could you imagine how difficult life would be, if people were trying to block maps from being created or printed, because it showed where their house is.
I guess what they need, is a method of automatically erasing all of the people and insides of doors/windows, but then again- that would just be creepy.
Just my two cents