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.
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Filed Under: privacy, street view, uk
Companies: google


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  • identicon
    SPAM, 26 Mar 2009 @ 1:18pm

    Privacy

    I people want privacy from the street; they should put up newpaper or something.

    If they want privacy from the newspaper... maybe they should put up google.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 26 Mar 2009 @ 1:20pm

      Re: Privacy

      Say... if everybody puts "Spam" as their name and the stuffchannel as their URL, do you think we could get it to come up as the top Spam link in Google?

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        Weird Harold, 26 Mar 2009 @ 3:07pm

        Re: Re: Privacy

        It's just someone being a totally a-hole trying to screw with me. They don't have a clue how to read the source code on this site to know that all links are no follow'ed, so it isn't important.

        link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    Steve R. (profile), 26 Mar 2009 @ 1:34pm

    A false Issue

    It consistently amazes me that a picture can be considered a gross violation of privacy that evokes extreme outrage that demands significant media coverage. This isn't an invasion of privacy.

    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 ]

  • identicon
    Weird Harold's former #5 fan, 26 Mar 2009 @ 1:41pm

    If you don't want someone to take a picture of you urinating in public - don't urinate in public.

    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 ]

  • identicon
    Dan, 26 Mar 2009 @ 1:45pm

    What will it take?

    I guess it will take A street view camera capturing the muzzle flash of it's last picture before they understand that people do not like trespassers or invasion of their privacy. Corporate paparazzi are no more palatable then the Hollywood variety. I don't advocate or condone firing on street view but it will happen sooner or later and I would guess Texas would be first, given their laws and propensity for these things. Maybe it will be crowd sourcing of Google's privacy, both Corporate and personal, to do the trick. Would they take umbrage?

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 26 Mar 2009 @ 1:57pm

      Re: What will it take?

      Wow - do you have a manifesto too ?

      link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Weird Harold's former #5 fan, 26 Mar 2009 @ 1:59pm

      Re: What will it take?

      I guess it will take A street view camera capturing the muzzle flash of it's last picture before they understand that people do not like trespassers or invasion of their privacy.

      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 ]

    • identicon
      Korrosive, 26 Mar 2009 @ 2:02pm

      Re: What will it take?

      What?? Are you serious? Miss a couple of meds?

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Dave, 26 Mar 2009 @ 2:19pm

    If you don't

    If you don't want to get shot, stay out of Detroit

    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 ]

  • identicon
    another mike, 26 Mar 2009 @ 2:27pm

    end of the world

    Everyone remembers when the space-time continuum imploded last week when someone posted a picture of a Street View van to Flickr.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    Rob (profile), 26 Mar 2009 @ 3:09pm

    Re: end of the world

    What happens when two street view vans pass each other going in opposite directs?

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 26 Mar 2009 @ 3:18pm

    How do people know where the google car is going to be?
    It would be fun to stage an "event".

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Jack Sombra, 26 Mar 2009 @ 4:15pm

    Not only am I a huge vocal fan of privacy but also one who knows the hundreds of ways our information is gathered every day and also how some of it used or misused depending on how you view it and do everything I can to minimise the collection of my data

    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 ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 26 Mar 2009 @ 4:38pm

    Database Pollution

    What to screw with them?
    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 ]

  • identicon
    Paul, 26 Mar 2009 @ 5:01pm

    Police?

    What happens when an S.V. car passes a Police person/vehicle? As I understand it, somehow we are no longer allowed to point our cameras at the Police as it might be a 'terrorist act' or some similar nonsense. Will Google be prosecuted and if not, why should Joe Public be?

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 26 Mar 2009 @ 5:22pm

      Re: Police?

      "As I understand it, somehow we are no longer allowed to point our cameras at the Police as it might be a 'terrorist act' or some similar nonsense."

      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 ]


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