Google has been hit with another wave of complaints about Street View, after the virtual mapping service was expanded last week to cover “almost all” of the roads in the UK.
On 11 March Google extended its Street View feature to provide 360 degree images of 96 percent of the public roads and thoroughfares in the UK – from Cornwall to the Shetlands. The extension of the service was trumpeted by Google, which claimed it “takes mapping to a level not possible before,” but many people in the UK regard the service as invasive.
When the service went live in the Broughton area on Thursday, the villagers thought they had won a famous victory, as images of London Road were not included. Internet users who searched for the street were greeted with the message: “This image is no longer available.”
However, by the evening of the same day, images of the street had appeared on the site, with Google blaming a “technical glitch” for the previous omissions.
“The fact is they should have asked or at least let people know that they were photographing their houses,” said Edward Butler-Ellis, a Conservative councillor for Milton Keynes, speaking to The Telegraph. “What really gets me is people have to opt out of being on it when they should have to opt in. A lot of older people without the Internet are unaware that they are able to opt out of this.”
The Daily Mail also reported over the weekend that Google was forced to apologise after its Street View service showed an image of a naked child on a family day out. The photos, which showed a woman helping to dress the child with a man looking on, have sparked fears over the potential of the site to become a target for paedophiles.
“Where there’s one example like this, there will be many others,” Alex Deane of Big Brother Watch told the paper. Google stressed that there are online tools so users can report inappropriate images immediately.
A recent survey of 1,317 people by discount website MyVoucherCodes has found that only 34 percent of those surveyed consider Google’s Street View service a “positive” move, with the remainder admitting they consider it an intrusion. Meanwhile, nearly a quarter said they believed it was simply “a service for burglars”.
“The service isn’t for everybody, and I think the main issue is that people feel they’ve had no consultation, despite the fact that many of the images clearly show people,” said Mark Pearson, Managing Director of MyVoucherCodes. “In honesty, whilst I can appreciate this, it’s unfeasible to expect a company to gain the permission of every single person in the UK.”
Of those polled, 73 percent of the people that called the service an intrusion said they were most angered by the fact they had not given permission for the publishing of images.
Earlier this month the EU decided to crack down on Google’s Street View practices, demanding that Google provides people with advance notice of when its Street View vehicles will be roving the streets, It also specified that these images should be deleted after six months.
Google responded that its current retention period of one year is necessary to maintain the quality of the Street View service. “The need to retain the unblurred images is legitimate and justified – to ensure the quality and accuracy of our maps, to improve our ability to rectify mistakes in blurring, as well as to use the data we have collected to build better maps products for our users,” Google said in a statement sent to eWEEK.
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These people are pathetic, anyone can walk down their streets and take photos of their houses. They are just halting innovation. StreetView could open a great new world for mapping and navigation.
This minority need to get over their little pathetic lives.
Street View is creating a valuable ‘Historical Picture Log’
Google Street View is a fantastic piece of New Technology allowing ‘Real Estate Agents’ to give a more accurate description of the area, and for the potential client to search from the comfort of their armchair. Google Street View is also creating a most valuable ‘Historical Picture Log’ that might prove in the course of time to be invaluable to researchers and for Legal proofs etc.
Would you sooner discover before you buy a property if there were any bad aspects to the area in question rather than find out after you have bought the property?
As for Google Street View to discover a child naked on any street proves only one thing, a positive identification should now lead to a parent being prosecuted for allowing this child out undressed and without adult supervision. Well done Street View.
Don't blame Street View prosecute the parents.
Signed Carl Barron Chairman of agpcuk
I am very pleased to see that my property is only viewable from a distance. How annoying it must be to know that *anyone* with Internet access can see into your house, as in the case of my previous address, or over the back fence, as in my sister's case - because she has a public road at the back of her house. Those cameras are at least eight feet off the ground and that is an intrusion, since local bye laws only permit a six foot fence.
In London quite a few innocent people have recently been arrested for taking the odd snapshot of famous buildings. It's been on the TV news. Police were implementing anti terrorism laws apparently. Now *anyone* can get an aerial view of any building and zoom in over the garden fence to boggle at my sister's washing.
George Orwell was a prophet.
I agree, if someone wants to break into your house they don't need Google Earth to do so. Today i realised that the whole of Cornwall has been completed right down to the street view level, my whole family and I have spent hours looking at places we know, and places that we don't. My mum found it to be a real "blast from the past", looking at places from her childhood. Anyone that put's down this great achievement is a complete fool.
Rob Aldred:
What's your address? I'll come outside your your house and start taking pictures, see how quick you are calling the police, and then Ben when I've done with Rob, I'll come and do you.
Nellie Smith: I doubt anyone is going to care for more than 2 seconds (if that) about the wash in your sister's backyard. Remember, it's not like the world's population of Internet users are all zooming in on her garden, with millions of other streets to see. Besides, if you or your sister don't want your house on Street View, by all means, ask Google to remove it.
Thing is, I've always wanted to visit Britain and Scotland, but I have no desire to linger long in the big cities (except to visit some landmarks before moving on). My dream has always been to end a two-week castle-hopping tour with a trip to one of England's seaside resorts. Street View allows me to plan such a trip, checking out the best spots for B&B's, antique shops and restaurants. This is convenient for me, and a boost to tourism in villages off the beaten path that most travelers wouldn't think to visit. Now, all I have to do is learn to drive on the left side of the road, and I'm in business.
Street View is a valuable tool. People who don't want it can opt out, protecting their privacy, while enabling me to check out neighborhoods so I don't waste my time house-hunting, or so I never again pay ahead for a hotel room, site unseen, unaware of its dodgy location.
Its great to be able to see places I have been and to see places that I wish to go to.
Get a life.
Do you really think the world's interested in your front garden? And if they were they could just stroll past and take a look.
Perhaps Nellie Smith would like to ban double decker buses.
Some people will moan over just about anything.
Street View is a valuable tool. People who don’t want it can opt out, protecting their privacy, while enabling me to check out neighborhoods so I don’t waste my time house-hunting, or so I never again pay ahead for a hotel room, site unseen, unaware of its dodgy location.