Public urged to report Google Street view fears
Digg
del.icio.us
Facebook
Reddit
Google
Stumble Upon
Fark
Newsvine
YahooBuzz
Bebo
Twitter
Independent Minds
People worried their privacy has been breached by Google's controversial new mapping service have been told to complain to the search engine or the information watchdog.
Scores of pictures, including one of a man exiting a Soho sex shop and another of a man being sick on the pavement outside a pub, were removed from Street View yesterday a day after it was launched in the UK
The application allows users to access 360-degree views of roads and homes in 25 cities and includes photographs of millions of residential addresses, people and cars.
Sophisticated technology has been developed to automatically obscure the faces of people featured in Street View photographs, and car registration plates have been blurred, but such efforts have failed to quieten critics, with many labelling the maps voyeuristic and intrusive.
A spokesman for the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) said: "It is Google's responsibility to ensure all vehicle registration marks and faces are satisfactorily blurred.
"Individuals who feel that an image does identify them (and are unhappy with this) should contact Google direct to get the image removed.
"Individuals who have raised concerns with Google about their image being included - and who do not think they have received a satisfactory response - can complain to the ICO."
A spokeswoman for Google could not confirm the exact number of images removed but said it had been "less than expected".
She added: "We take privacy very seriously which is why when we announced Street View for the UK we explained our easy-to-use removals process for images people found inappropriate - simply click 'report a concern' and report the image.
"Since launching, we have received very few removals requests.
"However, we're very pleased, where removals or further blurring has been requested, that the technology has been working so effectively and that most images have been removed within hours.
"Of course, we think that the vast majority of people around the UK will find Street View an incredibly useful new tool - whether it's to explore their own city in more detail, take a virtual field trip or simply learn a bit more about the history of our many great British cities."
At the bottom of each photograph featured on the application is a link which users can follow to "report a concern" to Google.
Individuals who do not wish to be featured in images or want their home to be taken off the database can register their objections by filling in an online form.
Ed Parsons, Google's geospatial technologist, said the ICO was consulted about privacy concerns, as was Scotland Yard.
He said: "Privacy is really important to us. We recognise that there have been concerns about that and we think we have addressed those concerns."
Street View images are taken from public roads, captured by a number of cars which have been driving around the UK since last summer.
The cars are continuing to photograph streets, which will enable Google to extend the service to cover more cities, Mr Parsons said.
Roads where Street View is currently available are highlighted on the standard Google map by a blue outline.
Panoramic images can be accessed by dragging an orange "pegman" icon - found on the left-hand side of the screen - across the page.
The technology, first launched in the US in 2007, is also available in the Netherlands, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, France, Spain and Italy.
View all comments that have been posted about this article.
Offensive or abusive comments will be removed and your IP logged and may be used to prevent further submission. In submitting a comment to the site, you agree to be bound by the Independent Minds Terms of Service.
- Print Article
- Email Article
-
Click here for copyright permissions
Copyright 2009 Independent News and Media Limited
Comments
I don't want to install the bloody thing in order to find out whether my privacy has been breached, while generally what of the breached privacy of those who don't even as much as use computers.
Sorry Google and Info Commissioner, informing Google who will remove an image, which incidentally may well remain viewable from a slightly different angle, is not good enough.
I have just tracked a journey on google maps - now have the map and the street view and the written info - perfect for learning a new route. No doubt there are random people on the route - I will not notice them - just like when driving.
Google will not be redoing this every week so it is not cctv - if on a random basis there is something you do not like they will sort it
My complaint
1) There are some small streets they have not been down so they cannot be seen
2) Views of squares are rubbish - they need a hand or bike camera to get where their camera cannot reach
3) There are vast swathes of the country they have not finished - get it sorted Google
If that is the case then the Privacy breach should extend to CCTV as well. Yes you can ask for a "copy" of any pictures of you on CCTV but that does not mean that the Pictures are removed from the system
think about it people 300 times a day .. you might get caught on CCTV (not all Cameras are visable) doing all sorts of stuff including picking your nose or scratching your bum.
Do you know what you are doing at all times while walking past cctv cameras, in shops, on the street, in resturants, parking lots and even some pubs and public bathrooms (although not the stalls, at least we should hope not)
Welcome to the BIG BROTHER society...
They even have CCTV where the CCTV operators can speak to you now ...
Even some governments have Satalites that can spy right into your own back yard ... or see you walking down the street so whats the difference?
Another way to think about this is ... How many celebs are caught vomiting or falling down or coming out of "sex shops" and many other things and are caught by the Press as well as CCTV ???
This is a subject that a lot of people can go on and on about. But put it into some sort of perspective, or another perspective so to speak.
I have to say that the street view is really interesting with or with out "people" in the photos...
I will no longer support google in my business and it will take off our system and replaced but a more sensible company.
In our area of London, it is a very quiet road, and we have had burglaries over the past year, and the latest one involved a very elderly lady who is now in Hospital and the police are involved. Google's reason for this new site supposedly, is that tourist will be interested, what rubbish they simply wish to see the sights of London. Estate Agents already take their own pictures of homes (with permission of the owners), this is just another ploy to watch and survey the population.
If Mr. and Mrs Blair and the boss of Google in the UK have removed their images, what about the rest of us.
Instead of burglars walking up and down their chosen area of 'pickings' all they have to do now is go to Streetview. Surely, this cannot be viewed as an innocent stragegy, and I am furious that permission was never sought, probably because Google realised it may not be given and did not want to get involved in complicated correspondence.
It would be interesting to see whether anyone will have the impetus to pursue Google, for example our MPs, the Civil Rights group or whether the Data Protection Act can be invoked.
I cannot believe this has been allowed to slip so easily 'under the wire' with no protests, but then again we are becoming a police state with all the cameras I suppose it was thought one more thing and the good old UK population would not complain too much.
I would be interested if you can actually see any CCTV or security cameras in any of the Google Street view images? How's about security alarms? Can you see or more importantly see if a street does not have them?
I really do not have a problem with tools that make life easier for the majority- I love satellite navigation for example- but isn't this taking things a bit too far? With the high street shops closing and changing hands so quickly the information on Google Strrets will be out of date so quickly how will it be useful?
Maybe the government like or promote this sort of thing- I would imagine the argument goes something like:
We cannot understand why people feel that ID cards/DNA databases/CCTV/ etc are an infrigement of civil liberties when you already have Tesco club cards/Google Street View etc etc.
As for the "if you have nothing to hide then why are you complaining" statement. Who decides what "wrong" is, and what happens when your definition starts to disagree with the government?
I don't object to Street View because of faces or car number plates, for me the potential embarrasment of being 'caught out' is something that a small minority of people worry about, and serves only to be a distracting side show.
To me, the key issues are twofold: what possible positive function does this serve?; and, the sheer bad manners and corporate arrogance of Google in assuming that people would not object, and their lack of responsiveness to people who do object.
I read online the CEO's justification for Street View - presumably he is an intelligent man, so I don't know what could have possibly motivated him to try to justify it by saying that Street View would save people getting into the cars therefore it has eco benefits (paraphrased) - what? Who gets into their cars to drive round streets? Who now sits at their computer instead of getting into their car? What evidence is there to support this ridiculous statement?
On the other hand, it is inuitively easy to see how the street views of cities and targets must be so very useful for terrorists planning attacks - it is a God's gift (or Google's gift) to planning and briefing a coordinated attack. Surely anyone can see this, whether they work for Google, Special Branch, or Al Quaeda? Granted, this objection is less valid for residential areas, but who would want to see a picture of my house, who I don't know? And why would I want to see a picture of other complete stranger's roads and houses?
The Government body concerned with this issue has let the British public down - it will become clear how much the first time a terrorist thanks Google for allowing them to plan their attack with such vivid and useful visual aids, that appear to serve no other purpose. It's now up to all of us to write to our MPs to get the arguments against clear, and well heard and understood.
ps
I must make it clear that right up to the introduction of Street View I was a big fan of Google - I have had its search engine page as my home page for years, used them as my prime email account, and have an AdWords account. I am in the process of closing my AdWords account and will be doing the same with my email account. I urge everyone else who seriously objects to Street View to do the same.