A9's Photos Violating People's Privacy?

from the privacy?--what's-that? dept

While it looks like plenty of people are starting to have some fun with A9's new photo yellow pages feature, apparently not everyone thinks it's all that cool. A group of privacy advocates (including some of the same folks who objected to Gmail when it first launched) are apparently concerned that the site includes certain photos, including "abused women's shelters, abortion clinics and adult video stores." While the USA Today article suggests the problem is that the service makes them findable, that seems unlikely (if the place has an address, it was already quite findable -- and most of these places have no problem with being found). What could be a bigger concern is if the photos happen to clearly capture someone heading into one of these places who would prefer to keep that info private. On top of that, the article points to a variety mistakes, that suggest certain photos are of places they aren't. For the most part, it seems like the concerns are a bit misplaced -- but A9 may want to have a simple procedure to get a photo yanked -- especially since people are digging up amusing photos of people caught entirely unaware.