Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Monday, 04 August 2008 21:33
Opinion and Analysis
Page 1 of 3
The controversial “Street View” feature of Google Maps first launched
in the US has now come to Australia, raising privacy fears while giving
the world a street level view of the land down under. Go ogle it and
see what you think!
All 8 states and territories of Australia have had virtually all major, minor and rural areas accessible by road photographed with 360 degree cameras atop Holden Astra vehicles, sparking privacy concerns while providing “new tourism, education, real estate and business benefits”, according to Google.
Available at a new
Street View page at Google Maps Australia, the service promises to blur out faces and number plates on cars to soothe those privacy fears, the National League and Policy Center (NLPC) thinks differently, at least about the US service.
The NLPC used the US version to effectively breach Google co-founder Larry Page’s privacy, as demonstrated in a PDF linked to within an NLPC
press release, using Google’s own Street View service to do so.
Valleywag covered that story and characterised the NLPC’s document as a “guide” to carjacking Page, given the fact the PDF document shows all the intersections between Page’s house and Google HQ.
The NLPC press release also quotes “father of the Internet” and Google “evangelist” Vint Cerf telling the Washington Technology Alliance’s annual luncheon in May that “nothing you do ever goes away, and nothing you do ever escapes notice… There isn’t any privacy, get over it.”
Google Australia, however, says it has “gone to great lengths to safeguard privacy while allowing all Australians to benefit from this feature”, noting that the service “only contains imagery that is already visible from public roads.”
Google is confident of its privacy protections because faces are blurred in Australia’s “Street View”, and users can “easily flag for removal images that he or she considers inappropriate by clicking on ‘Street View Help’.”
Google says that it has also “consulted extensively with many privacy and community groups in developing the feature and privacy safeguards. The Office of the Privacy Commissioner supports Google's approach to provide face blurring and an image removal process where individuals request this.”
So, how does the service actually work? Please read on to page 2.
