p2pnet news view Advertising | P2P:- “This is scary,” said Patrick Mates, looking at the detailed, 360-degree images available on Google Street View.

He’s quoted by the CBC in the story focusing on the efforts of giant American advertising company Google to convince Canadians its Street View product is a valuable service instead of an invasion of their privacy.

“Mates has been trained by the Ottawa police to do free security audits for people who request them,” says the story, going on »»»

He checks locks, windows, doors and lighting, then offers tips on how to make the house more secure. He is also a member of an Ottawa neighbourhood watch group.

He thinks Google Street View makes things too easy for burglars to see whether the house has sliding windows, for example, which are less secure than other kinds.

“They could choose a house to break into simply by sitting at their computer and going down the street and looking for the most vulnerable ones.”

Mates added some thieves could use Street View during the day to, “check out a house before a nighttime break-in”.

But, “Google Street View isn’t a concern for police right now,” the CBC has Ottawa Police constable J.P. Vincelette saying.

Google claims it’s ’state-of-the-art’  blurring technology protects the identities of  people who are unknowingly  photographed by its touring SnoopMobiles.

However, p2pnet reader Marc used the ’service’ to  tour the streets of Montreal and had no difficulty finding visible licence plates and people’s faces  which were clearly recognizable.

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First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win ~ Mahatma Gandhi

CBC - Google Street View may help thieves, October 13, 2009
clearly recognizable – Google Canada Street View faces and plates, October 9, 2009

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This entry was posted on Thursday, October 15th, 2009 at 9:30 am and is filed under Advertising, P2P. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

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