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The angry mob... created a human chain so that the camera-equipped car couldn't continue. Eventually, the driver fled...."We've already had three burglaries locally in the past six weeks. If our houses are plastered all over Google it's an invitation for more criminals to strike."
Hmm... My street is on Google streetview, too. Where's my pitchfork?
My immediate reaction was anger; how dare anyone take a photograph of my home without my consent? I ran outside to flag the car down and told the driver he was not only invading our privacy but also facilitating crime.
Sorry, Sunny Jim, no one needs permission to take photos of your house, thus it's not an invasion of privacy. Although I suspect obstructing people on a public highway, harassing them and preventing them from going about their legitimate business is.
I'll bet these are the sort of people who have aerial photos of their homes mounted on the wall of their study.
Out with the Ack-Ack guns and tin hats next lads!
Syzygy
preventing them from going about their legitimate business is.
Syzygy
It is not illegal to photograph private property in England.
My post was about "use of the highway" which is a different matter. Despite there being no criminal offence it is still arguable under English Common Law that Google's use of the highway constitutes a trespass on the adjoining properties.
As far as 'use of the highway', isn't obstructing it an offence?
Syzygy
I hear the next phase is that they will enter your property with a video camera and expose the state of your furniture and your appalling sense of colour coordination to anyone bored enough to bother to watch.
After that who knows? Compulsory endoscopy and body scans? When techology permits they will probably take it down to a microscopic level showing the types of bacteria infesting your colon.
It is 1984 and big brother is called google.
Although I am personally too laid back to get upset over somebody photographing my house I can understand how one could get a bit worked up about it, especially the lower orders who tend to get upset when someone quite legally parks on the road outside their house. It is only a matter of time before the corpses of google employees are swinging from lamposts all over the country.
I wonder how they get on in the more volatile areas of the world? I expect the Taliban would have something to say about it - stoning is too good for them.
Google should write giving you a month's notice of when they will be coming round with their camera. Just so that you can make sure the lawn is mowed and the windows are clean, and perhaps administer a lick of paint here and there.
[edited by: LifeinAsia at 3:28 pm (utc) on April 3, 2009]
Just like what was done here in the U.S., which gave birth to "Homeland Security."
Put it up front and in the open this way, of course people are going to rebel, because that's how they see it . . .
I don't mind google taking pictures of the building I'm living in, but they should really let me know in advance so I can clean my windows, just in case my mother googles my address ;)
QUESTION
If a government (in a democracy) were to organize something like this, how would people react? Methinks there would be a big stink and it would stop pretty darn quickly - if it didn't, that government would most likely be booted out at the next election.
However, because it's a private company at work, some people seem to think it's fine - that's crazy.
So far as use of the highway is concerned, provided camera vehicles make good progress, they are probably within the law. However, if they impede traffic then most certainly they are not.
Kaled.
Undoubtedly, the time will come when a burglar admits to using Google for initial reconnaissance (i.e. choosing likely looking houses and/or areas). When that happens, Google could find themselves with big problems.
Yes, about as much trouble as those that use maps to find banks to rob.
Blame the criminals for crime, not the cartographer.
BTW, taking pictures is not a crime as long as it can be seen from a public vantage point without going to extreme measures to violate someone's privacy, such as driving down a private road in a gated community under false pretenses.
Someone standing on a street and taking a picture of the Eiffel tower or Empire State building is one thing. Photoing *everyone's* private house and making it easily and readily available online to the entire world is another matter entirely.
If Google are seen to profit from this whilst individuals suffer, then there will be problems. And if an aggravated burglary should go wrong leading to a death, the arguments would get very heated and Google would have no choice but to pull the entire service. Indeed, they could find themselves required to do so by law.
I can understand why Google might want to provide this service in town-centres, but in residential areas, they are on a hiding to nothing.
Kaled.
Just that, but after howling, Get'm LUCKY, Get'm :)
Damn all those cartographers. Without them, all the bad guys wouldn't know of all the places that can be pillaged.
What a shame!
If you see someone photographing your house, as long as they are on public property there's nothing you can do about it except plant hedges and trees that give you privacy.
Now if you see someone poking through those trees or climbing up the hedge to take a picture, that's an entirely different situation as they went to extreme measures to take a picture that isn't publicly visible.
For instance, taking pictures inside a mall or inside a store, both private property, are pretty much off limits to photographers without permission, they'll get asked to leave. However, standing on a public sidewalk taking pictures of the same building is perfectly legal.
If you want to have some real fun, stand on the sidewalk in front of the Oracle building snapping pictures with your camera on a tripod and see how long it takes for a rabid security guard to come running out there but as long as you're on the sidewalk, enjoy.
FWIW, I grew up was in the country at the end of a very long 0.4mi private road. Had a Google car showed up they'd have been met with 2 friendly neighbors with shotguns, but again, it was a very long private road.
[edited by: incrediBILL at 1:13 am (utc) on April 4, 2009]
Sheesh! Just cloak your house then! No wait, that technology doesn't exist yet, damnit!
Sure it does, ever watch any Cheech and Chong movies?
To avoid having the LA police helicopters spot their "crops" growing in the backyard they hid it with a massive painting the size of a backyard pool that covered their entire greenhouse.
So if you see the Google car in town just go borrow a tent from your friendly neighborhood termite exterminators and sell advertising on the front to be seen in Google maps ;)
All the worry about them being shut down in a lawsuit is poorly grounded. Is a car dealer closed where a robber bought his getaway car? No! With every new technology comes a way to misuse it. Relax. Google cannot be held liable for what others do with their service. There is a clause in the Google Maps TOS [google.com] about this:
You agree that you are responsible for your own conduct and content while using the Products, and for any consequences thereof. You agree to use the Products only for purposes that are legal, proper and in accordance with the Terms and any applicable policies or guidelines Google may make available.
There is nothing that can or should be done. Google is just doing their job, which is to bring the world to our fingertips. Some of you may have read my previous rant about Google taking over the world. This is just a step towards their goal of world domination.
-- webfoo
There is nothing that can or should be done.
The law can be changed....
In another thread on the subject, I suggested that a maximum resolution needs to be set for the publication of images of private locations such as houses. I stand by that suggestion and also my suggested maximum resolution of 1 pixel per inch. That's good enough to give people an impression of the area without being able to identify people or number plates, etc.
Kaled.
