Comments on: Google Street View Runs Into Controversies in Switzerland and Israel

By: Iain

Iain — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 01:15:01 +0000

Jon Deane
Ever use a celphone? you are broadcasting a radio signal when you do. Should just anybody be allowed to record and publish these phone calls? It is the same thing. Your private public life on the internet. The lines need to be drawn, with public input.

By: scott

scott — Sun, 27 Feb 2011 15:50:35 +0000

I agree with some of the privacy stuff, and there is a creepy element to all this, but its great for buying property, as you can ceck out the yard, the neighbors – you can even tell if the yards are filled with junk – areas you can walk to, etc. Also good for zooming in and checking out streets as far as renting a vacation house, like in a city in Europe, seeing how the street looks, what the cafes are like, etc as so many places are advertised making them seem better than they are.

When my parents were looking for houses in Santa Fe on line, they would send me listings they liked and I would street view them, letting them know what was around them. One house they passed on (that they liked from the pics) had two houses on either side piled with hoarder crud…that was a year and a half ago and that house is still for sale, wedged in by unfortunate hoarding on both sides. Anwyay, it saves time, as when the went to buy, they did not waste time on places that they knew they would not live. Also..some of my neighbors that I dont know, I was suprised how many wonderful backyard oasis with giant pools and guest houses are hidden behind fences and hedges in LA.

By: Grum

Grum — Sun, 27 Feb 2011 12:32:31 +0000

Jon,

There is a difference between someone being seen in a street and having their photo put online for the whole world to see.

And some people simply don’t like their photo being taken full stop, let alone the photo being published.

By: Idlewilde

Idlewilde — Sat, 26 Feb 2011 00:21:52 +0000

At least they admitted it…no one would have known if they hadn’t.

By: Anne

Anne — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 21:27:52 +0000

There is a big difference in the type of exposure one has when walking down the street, and the wider exposure of having your face and location on the internet. There are people in our societies for whom this would be a danger. I don’t believe that Street View performs a valuable enough service for that kind of breakdown of the barriers of what we can expect in daily life, especially when a GPS will get us somewhere just as easily without photographs.

By: Jon Deane

Jon Deane — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 13:33:45 +0000

This is insane. People should have no expectation of privacy in a public area. Why the controversy? The street view cars can’t see anything a pedestrian on the street couldn’t see. What’s next, mandatory blindfolds when outside our homes so we don’t invade others privacy?