Google Street View Prompts Privacy Fears

What: Google's new Street View which features thousands of street-level photographs of major American cities has raised questions that the search engine is invading people's privacy.
When: 06/01/07
Link: http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article1870995.ece

Reading Notes:

• Google has launched a new feature on its maps service called "Street View," which shows thousands of street-level photos of major American cities.
• The photos, which were provided to Google by a Canadian company called Immersive Media, have caused concern as identifying characteristics such as people's faces, license plates, or private goings-on inside homes have not been blurred out.
• The images were obtained with car-mounted cameras that traveled up and down city streets.
• Google has defended the feature against privacy concerns by saying that these images are no different than what people would see in their everyday lives and "easily accessible tools for flagging inappropriate or sensitive imagery for review and removal".
• The company also said it approached anonymous shelters such as women's refuge centres and drug treatment facilites before the launch of the service and has removed them from the maps.
• Critics have said that Google has failed to be a "responsible member of the corporate community."
• Privacy laws in the US pose little restriction as the publication of photos of public places is widely allowed.