As Google Agrees To Delete Unblurred Street View Images In Germany, One Is Used To Solve A Crime

from the well-how-about-that dept

Earlier this week, Google agreed to delete unblurred images in its Street View database. If you don't know, Google Street View involves cars driving around photographing everything, so they can be placed on Google Maps. It's quite useful. However, some folks (and politicians) have been up in arms about the supposed privacy violation of photographing people walking in public (no, I don't get it, either). To deal with this, Google has been blurring faces of people. However, it usually keeps the unblurred versions in a database for future use (and for better training of its blurring mechanism).

However, just as the company agreed to delete the unblurred photos in its German database, over in the UK, such photos may be useful in helping to solve a mugging. The victim of the mugging (amazingly) noticed that one of the Street View photos was taken right before the mugging happened. It involved two guys who stole his bike, and the photo shows the two guys walking right behind the kid. He alerted the police, who got the unblurred image from Google and were able to track down the accused muggers. Of course, it's not clear if they'll actually be convicted or if there's really enough evidence. In the meantime, though, if you're thinking of mugging someone, maybe take a look around to see if there's a Google car driving along side you first.

Filed Under: crime, germany, google maps, mugging, street view, uk
Companies: google

UK Privacy Activist Claims Google Maps Is Illegal

from the oh-come-on dept

We've seen some silly claims about Google Maps/Google Earth lately, and they just keep coming. The latest is that a privacy activist in the UK is going to issue a legal challenge against Google's Street View offering in the UK, claiming that the photos violate peoples' privacy. Note: these are all photos of people in public places. The UK government has apparently given the go-ahead for Street View in the UK, but this guy is going to challenge that ruling, claiming that Google needs to get prior consent from everyone in the photos before using them. He's not at all satisfied that Google allows the blurring of faces and the ability to take down photos you really dislike. It doesn't sound like this legal challenge will go very far. The guy isn't even sure what law he's going to accuse Google of breaking, and the lawyers quoted in the article seem quite skeptical that there's anything illegal about the Street View product.

Filed Under: google maps, privacy, street view, uk

Politician Wants Google To Blur Street View Images Of Buildings; Next Up: Blurring Reality

from the oh-come-on dept

A California politician has introduced some legislation that would require companies like Google that offer "street view" photographs of certain areas to blur images of certain buildings, including schools, gov't buildings, churches and hospitals. The argument is that such photos allow terrorists to plan attacks. Next up, we're wondering if Assemblyman Joel Anderson will also demand that we blur reality. Anyone can walk by these buildings in public (like Google did) and take a photo. Unless he's going to force all cameras to take blurry images, it seems pretty ridiculous to think that this law makes sense. If terrorists are going to attack a building, they'll figure out a way to do so whether or not some of the images are online (and, as some have pointed out, most of these buildings have photos online already... on their own websites). It's really getting ridiculous seeing politicians freak out about a technology just because it could be used for terrorism.

Filed Under: california, google maps, joel anderson, privacy, street view
Companies: google

The Borings Eloquently Appeal The Street View Ruling, Declaring: Google, Don't Tread On Me

from the eloquence-means-nothing-under-the-law dept

Last month, a court totally dismissed the lawsuit filed by Aaron and Christine Boring, who had complained about Google's Street View images of their home, suggesting that the company had driven onto their private driveway to get the photos. The court pointed out, correctly, that the Borings had no case because they could have availed themselves of the simple mechanism on Google to remove the images. Still, the Borings are now appealing, and turning this into quite the epic battle of small guy vs. big company:

"Whether the trespass is by a foreign king, or the royalty of big business, does not matter. The Borings, such as our American forefathers in millennia past, are entitled to proclaim, 'Google, Don't Tread On Me.'"

That seems to be overplaying their hand just a bit. As is the claim that the original ruling made them "Google slaves":

"This Court tells Google that it is okay to enter onto a person's private property without permission. I would not teach that rule to my child. This Court's ruling makes our private property a Google Slave; our property is no longer our own: it is forced to work for another, against its will, without compensation, for the profit of another. The Federal Court should free slavery, not create it."

It's not like Google took over their property or anything. The Google Maps car looks like it pulled into, and backed out of their driveway -- which it may have confused as another road. It did no damage, and the end result -- the photo -- could have been easily removed by the family. This is hardly a case of a massive trampling of anyone's rights.

Filed Under: borings, google maps, privacy, street view, trespassing
Companies: google

Court Tosses Lawsuit Against Google Over Streetview Photos Of Home

from the rather-boring-afterall dept

You may recall last year that a couple in Pittsburgh, Aaron and Christine Boring, got freaked out after they found photos of their home on Google Maps using the "Street View" feature. So, rather than use the tools provided to opt-out, they did what any American would do: they sued Google, claiming a variety of offenses from privacy violations to "devaluing" their property. The whole lawsuit seemed rather pointless: the couple could have easily used the options provided to have their photo taken down, and in filing the lawsuit they brought much more attention to the photos of their home online.

It appears that a judge has agreed, dismissing the entire lawsuit while noting the pointlessness of the lawsuit. The court noted that there was no evidence as to why the photos were offensive or damaging, and the fact that the couple chose not to use the available tools to opt-out basically killed their entire argument.

Filed Under: google maps, privacy, street view
Companies: google

Australian Copyright Laws Stymied Google Bushfire Map Overview

from the what's-the-purpose-of-copyright-again? dept

In the US, any documents produced by the federal government are in the public domain and not covered by copyright. However, that's not necessarily true in other countries. Australia, for one, has the concept of Crown copyright, where the government retains copyright on its documents. Sometimes that creates ridiculous scenarios, such as last week, when Google was trying to create a map overlay of useful information about the extent of the massive Australian bushfires that killed hundreds. Instead of being able to map all of the fires, the Victorian Department of Sustainability and Environment denied Google's request to get data needed to plot the fire's location on public lands, citing Crown copyright. Yes, it appears the government blocked this useful resource because of copyright issues.

Filed Under: australia, bushfire, crown copyright, google maps
Companies: google

Google Street View Helps Find Kidnapped Child

from the well-who-woulda-thunk? dept

You may remember that a couple months ago an advocacy group was trying to whip up a storm about Google's Street View service. The claim alleged that child predators would use Street View to find where children live and then kidnap them. Well, it turns out that Street View did assist with a kidnapping.

Only, not as the worriers predicted.

Instead, a smart cop was able to use Street View to help relocate a kidnapped child. In fact, in conjunction with the GPS data for the child's phone, provided by the cellular provider, the officer was able to use Street View to remotely find what he thought may be a motel in Virginia. Furthering Googling confirmed Street View and local police were able to find the child. Obviously, stories like this will be far and few between -- but so will ones where bad guys use technology in an evil way. That's the reality: technology can be good or bad, it depends on the user. Luckily, in this case, we had a clever cop using technology for the best.

Filed Under: google maps, kidnapped children, street view

Japanese Group Asks Google To Shut Down Street View

from the public-is-private dept

Apparently a Japanese civilian group, The Campaign Against Surveillance Society, is asking Google to shut down its Street View offering. This is hardly the first time that people have complained about Street View, but, honestly, it's difficult to see how this is a "surveillance" issue or a violation of anyone's privacy. Google is taking photos of public spaces that anyone is free to look at. It's not doing it in real-time or anything. It's just a still photo of a public place that anyone with a camera could take. I can understand people's concerns about growing surveillance or loss of privacy, but efforts to combat those things should focus on areas where there are real threats to privacy -- not a useful service like Google Street View.

Filed Under: google maps, japan, privacy, street view
Companies: google

Cartographers Against Google Maps

from the holding-back-the-tide dept

Apparently, the head of the British Cartographic Society is no fan of Google Maps. She's complaining that Google Maps doesn't include the additional geographic information that makes maps so great, claiming:

"We're in real danger of losing what makes maps so unique, giving us a feel for a place even if we've never been there."

Except, that's not quite true. After all, Google Maps allows all sorts of overlays and additional info. With Google Maps you can also get the satellite view, which is likely to give you a much greater feel for a place than a map. And, of course, many areas have the "Street View" feature as well -- again, providing a much greater feel for a place you've never been. As for certain landmarks and such not being added to Google Maps, more seem to be added every day, and with Google letting people add their own information to maps as well, it's only going to get better and better.

If anything, it seems like this guy is complaining not because Google Maps isn't useful, but because she's afraid that the need for traditional cartographers may not be as strong (which I doubt will actually be the case). Besides, if she's so worried that certain information isn't included on Google Maps, why not create a mashup overlaying all the info she feels has been left out -- because that's rather easy to do with Google Maps.

Filed Under: cartographers, google maps

Advocacy Group Claims Google Maps Is A Tool Of Child Predators

from the but-think-of-the-children! dept

We've been talking about the popularity of "technopanics," where the press (often spurred on by "advocacy" groups) push out a "but think of the children" campaign to worry about how child predators are using this or that kind of technology -- when the reality is that there is often little to no evidence that this is actually happening or a serious threat. Studies eventually show that the press blew the "threat" way out of proportion, but by then it's too late. The public already believes that there's a huge threat. This isn't to say that there aren't some folks who have used these sites to prey on children -- or that people shouldn't be aware that it's a risk. But most kids seem to have no problem ignoring or brushing off the extremely rare solicitations they might get -- usually because their parents or educators taught them to be cautious around random strangers.

So, with studies finally showing the lack of a threat on social networks, it seems that technopanic advocates have had to move on to things like gaming consoles. The latest is even more ridiculous. Apparently an advocacy group is trying to warn people about the supposed dangers of Google's Street View technology. Apparently, they're worried that child predators will use the tech to scope out where children live, because Google Street View might possibly maybe have caught kids playing outside. Is there any evidence that this has actually happened? Nope. Is there any reason to think that this makes sense for a child predator as compared to actually getting in a car and driving around and seeing what's happening out in broad daylight? Nope. It's just fear, fear, fear!

Amusingly, I found this story from Stephen Shankland at News.com, who points out that the same day that advocacy group put out its fearmongering press release, another group was announcing how you can use its new service, built on Google Maps, to see if any registered sex offenders live near you. So, while we have one group warning about how Google Maps can be used for evil, another group is pointing out how it can be used to see if there are any threats in the neighborhood.

Filed Under: google maps, google street view, technopanic, think of the children