German Town Says No To Google Streetview

[engine]

German Town Says No To [theregister.co.uk]Google Streetview

The town of Molfsee near Kiel in the north-western German state of Schleswig-Holstein doesn't want to be filmed by Google for its Street View program, a service that provides 360-degrees street level images via Google Maps.

The leader of the Christian Democratic Union on the town council told the Lübecker Nachrichten that "we are not going to let this happen". The 5,000 inhabitants find the project "extremely alarming" as criminals can plan break-ins more easily. Germany's Federal Commissioner for Data Protection also has major misgivings about Google's plans, according to Der Spiegel

In order to stop Google from filming its community, Molfsee plans to require the company to get a special permit, which it will not issue.

[piatkow]

Google are going to bother about getting a permit? The only thing that is going to stop them is police physically dragging the crew out of their vehicle and locking them up.

[Receptional Andy]

Google aren't going to bother:

"We don't need permits", Oberbeck [Google's spokeswoman for North and Central Europe] says

[spiegel.de...]

[g1smd]

Hmm. It's Germany you are talking about here, so if they are serious about this, expect Google's car to be met by 100 baton-wielding police in full riot gear, with tear-gas, tazers, water cannon, and whatever else hardware they have lying around. In that case, I wouldn't expect Google's car to get even one metre past the "Willkommen in Molfsee" sign at the edge of town. German police doesn't pussyfoot around.

[vincevincevince]

Yes, g1smd is right. I suspect Google's US-centric approach of doing things and then hoping to justify them in court later is seriously out-of-step with Germany's legal and cultural environment. The correct response is to apply for the permit, get rejected, and then appeal rejection at each ascending level until you win, give up or run out of courts.

[grandpa]

...as criminals can plan break-ins more easily.

Since this place has been nearly described as a police state, how is it possible that they are worried about criminals? Maybe they're simply worried about the planning stages, not the actual break-in?

Frankly, I don't get it. I've looked at the garden where I reside from street view, and with satellite views. I worry about people coming in, particularly late in the night. Otherwise, I'm glad that people can see the gate (with street view) and know where to enter the garden.

And... any self-respecting thief will be able to get satellite images and perform surveillance that is far superior to anything that Google has to offer.

Gib ihm eine Pause

[janharders]

haha, guys, relax. sorry to ruin the idea, but I'm from germany (actually not that far from there, I'm from Hamburg) and there won't be any problems if google should decide to just go for it without a permit. Not only is it hardly a crime to take pictures yourself and publish them, but a town with 5.000 citizens doesn't have a lot of police officers - they won't even notice a google car driving around (plus: if they had, german police has no way to stop them ... srsly, a lot has changed in the last 70 years ;).
it's much more likely that google will do it no matter what town officials say and the town might take google to court afterwards - but I highly doubt that. It's just a way to get in the news. I doubt that many people outside northern germany have heard of kiel (well, you actually might have if you're into sailing) - but nobody has any reason to ever remember Molfsee, which is a strange name, even for germany (and, you guessed it, google streetview is the only topic you'll find when searching for molfsee on google news).

[jecasc]

Hmm. It's Germany you are talking about here, so if they are serious about this, expect Google's car to be met by 100 baton-wielding police in full riot gear, with tear-gas, tazers, water cannon, and whatever else hardware they have lying around. In that case, I wouldn't expect Google's car to get even one metre past the "Willkommen in Molfsee" sign at the edge of town. German police doesn't pussyfoot around.

Buahhaha. Thats a far cry from reality. What you can expect is the village police man appearing half an hour after the Google Street View Car has left the town.

[alt131]

I doubt that many people outside northern germany have heard of kiel

To reinforce "global reach", I'm on the other side of the world, have no knowledge of sailing, and have definitely heard of Kiel. Its famous for military history, shipping (economically and historically), Olympic Games, and Schleswig-Holstein figures in debates about the origins of certain breeds of cattle and horses. To add to that I've just spent 4 months sharing quarters with a native.

Never overestimate anonymity!

Small towns are similar world-wide, so I wouldn't be worried about the local constabulary if I was google. The local shop/pub/retiree-at-home survellance team backed up by a possible tongue-lashing from irate local folk would scare me more!

I suspect Google's US-centric approach of doing things and then hoping to justify them in court later is seriously out-of-step with Germany's legal and cultural environment.

I think that's more to the point - except remove Germany and insert any of the approaching 200 UN members that do not have a US-centric legal and cultural environment.

So far as Molfsee, well good on them for forming an opinion and expressing it.

[StoutFiles]

"We don't need permits", Oberbeck [Google's spokeswoman for North and Central Europe] says

Permits? We don't need no stinkin' permits!

[zeus]

This Google thing is getting scary they really want everything in there DB even your Gene`s - I would say if a Company want to take images of a Town they need a permit and not just start making pictures of every PRIVATE house.

[piatkow]

Just wait for the tabloids to get a "Terrorist used Streetview" story.

[timchuma]

On sort of the same topic I liked this mention of a credit campaign from the New York Times that used aerial photos:
Peter Harvey, chief executive of Intellidyn, a consulting company based in Hingham, Mass., that helps banks with their targeted marketing, says the industry’s newest challenge is to personalize each offer without appearing too invasive.

He describes one marketing campaign several years ago that crossed the line: a bank purchased satellite imagery of a particular neighborhood and on each envelope that contained a personalized credit offer, highlighted that recipient’s home on the image.

The campaign flopped. “It was just too eerie,” Mr. Harvey said.

[timchuma]

On sort of the same topic I liked this mention of a credit campaign from the New York Times that used aerial photos:
Peter Harvey, chief executive of Intellidyn, a consulting company based in Hingham, Mass., that helps banks with their targeted marketing, says the industry’s newest challenge is to personalize each offer without appearing too invasive.

He describes one marketing campaign several years ago that crossed the line: a bank purchased satellite imagery of a particular neighborhood and on each envelope that contained a personalized credit offer, highlighted that recipient’s home on the image.

The campaign flopped. “It was just too eerie,” Mr. Harvey said.

[timchuma]

On sort of the same topic I liked this mention of a credit campaign from the New York Times that used aerial photos:
Peter Harvey, chief executive of Intellidyn, a consulting company based in Hingham, Mass., that helps banks with their targeted marketing, says the industry’s newest challenge is to personalize each offer without appearing too invasive.

He describes one marketing campaign several years ago that crossed the line: a bank purchased satellite imagery of a particular neighborhood and on each envelope that contained a personalized credit offer, highlighted that recipient’s home on the image.

The campaign flopped. “It was just too eerie,” Mr. Harvey said.