Which Is The Bigger Privacy Invasion: Google Street View Images Or Major Newspaper Reprinting Those Images?
from the just-wondering... dept
Last week there was quite an uproar in the UK over how Google's Street View offering was somehow a violation of privacy, despite the images being taken out in public. Also, Google was quite quick in removing any questionable images as soon as they were brought to Google's attention. Yet, in true Streisand Effect fashion, the uproar and the removals has only led to much more focus on those very images. Reader Steve Cook points out that, in fanning the flames of the so-called "privacy violation," The Daily Mail has reprinted a bunch of the "questionable" images which Google had already deleted. So, in creating a privacy uproar about it, now those images are more popular than they would have been if people had just left it alone.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: privacy, street view, uk
Companies: google
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
Privacy
If they want privacy from the newspaper... maybe they should put up google.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Privacy
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Privacy
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
A false Issue
The real invasion of privacy is hyper-marketing assault on the consumer by telemarketers, spam, and the selling/trading/sharing of your personal data by corporations. We need to get our priorities straightened out.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
If you don't want someone to take a picture of you leaving a sex shop - don't visit sex shops (or don't leave).
If you don't want to drive over a cliff - trust your eyes over a GPS unit.
Oh, that's right - personal responsibility is taboo these days. My bad.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
What will it take?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: What will it take?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: What will it take?
1. It's a van driving down the street. How exactly are they trespassing?
2. The people are in public. How is this invading their privacy?
It really sounds like you've confused this with Google Bedroom View, where Google photographers sneak into your bedroom in the middle of the night to take pictures.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: What will it take?
AKA Ceiling Cat
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: What will it take?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
If you don't
If you don't want your kids to get Cancer, don't buy toys made in China
If you don't want to get food poisoning from produce, grow your own vegetables
If you don't want your ISP to read your email, don't send email
If you don't want to cut yourself, don't ever use a knife. Ever
If you don't want to fall, don't climb trees
If you don't want to get fired, don't get a job
If you don't want to get fat, don't eat
If you don't want to sneeze, don't breathe
If you don't want Chuck Norris to roundhouse kick you in the face, YOU WILL STILL DIE LIKE THE REST!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
end of the world
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: end of the world
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
It would be fun to stage an "event".
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
That all said, this entire Google street view episode has been a total farce, not because of Google but because of the politicians & media stirring up controversy over some cars going around the place taking 360 degree photos of the public streets and catching random people in the photos who just happen to be around (and blanking out their faces where their software can detect them), yep huge invasion of privacy there......not
Shame on the Joe Public fools getting worked up about this with the absolute tons of other, far far greater invasions of privacy going on every day, many of the controlled by the government
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Database Pollution
1) let them write cookies
2) Collect a bunch of cookies
3) each day run a script to right shift file contents of all cookies
4) run a script that visits sites - a lot
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Police?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Police?
Maybe in the UK, but not here.
We can still take pix, vids, of them beating the crap outta someone cuffed face in the dirt. They do not like it tho
[ link to this | view in chronology ]