Google is a remarkable company and one whose services very few people, if any, could not use to their benefit in one manner or another. Their corporate motto has been a sort of abridged Hippocratic oath: ‘Don’t Be Evil’. This is largely a response to some of the corporate practices of other software companies, whose name won’t be mentioned, because I’m not entirely sure they don’t have a Death Star equipped with a laser to vaporize those who speak ill of them.
But Google’s friendly image has been under fire lately. Largely due to privacy and copyright concerns. In my opinion the copyright issue is a non-issue and won’t be of any consequence. The privacy front is a little different, but some of the concerns seem ridiculous to me.
Americans are particularly concerned about privacy. By and large, we like to be left in peace and just do our thing. The Fourth Amendment enshrines a great deal of privacy in our constitution but is mainly focused on citizen’s privacy from the government. Increasingly the privacy concerns are due to corporations and private businesses having a great deal of information about individuals. While these are legitimate concerns, I think the fuss over Google Street View is just silly.
It isn’t just street view causing privacy concerns, you cant go a day without reading some sort of story in the news about how Facebook are invading personal privacy, causing security and privacy concerns. For example this story: http://www.zdnet.com.au/facebook-goes-google-with-new-privacy-controls-339320996.htm
Google Street View allows you to take a walking tour through town and view it from, well, the street. It only is available for a few cities right now, but Google hopes to make it everywhere they have Google Maps. I’ve used Google Maps many times and found it quite useful. I’ve also used Google Earth, mainly to waste time looking up every address I’ve lived at and where my friends are but also to figure out how to hack a facebook account, but I’ve also found it useful to send pictures of where I live in relation to the nearest tube stop to my family for their visit.
The Street View is created by using a camera mounted to a car that takes pictures in a 360 degree radius. It’s possible to walk through town and zoom in on things of interest. The London Paper just had a story about people who are all hot and bothered by this. There were pictures of sunbathers in thongs in a park off Escondido road in San Francisco, the caption sensationally cried out: ‘Two Sunbathers’ Privacy Is Invaded.’ Really? Their privacy was invaded in a park off of Escondido road? Other pictures were of a fight caught on the street and a woman climbing into a truck with her thong hanging out her pants. Then there is the picture of a man coming out of a brothel, a woman who could see her cat through her living room window and a lawyer who demanded that Google remove a picture of him smoking on the street. Apparently, his wife thinks he quit.
