Manage updates with the Download AppJune 12, 2007 4:00 AM PDT
Are Google's moves creeping you out?
Several weeks later, the information technology manager at the French American International School was alerted that a picture of him sitting at the cafe could be found on Google's online map as part of the search giant's new street-level photo view.
"The HR manager ran into me in the hallway, and she pulled me aside and...said, 'Do you know that there are cameras everywhere?'" Israel recounted. "Of course, I was a little freaked out because it's the HR person telling me that we got busted having a coffee next door...My mother is surprised I haven't been fired."
Google's recently unveiled Street View stunned many with its photos of the unsuspecting, from a man climbing a front gate to another walking out of a strip club, but it's hardly the first time the company has compiled a massive database of material that some would want to remain private. Indeed, Google has for years been storing every Web search and analyzing the topics of Gmail so it can serve customers with related advertisements.
News.com Poll
But now that Google is serving up images from the sky with Google Earth, creating street-level images with Street View and tracking customer behavior in cyberspace, some are starting to ask: how much is enough? As blogger Michael Rasmussen wrote in a comment about Street View on the Boing Boing blog, "Damn right, it's creepy."
Saturday, the British activist group Privacy International released a scathing report that said the company is "hostile to privacy" and ranked it the lowest out of nearly two dozen major Web sites when it comes to privacy issues.
Google Maps Street View was singled out. "Techniques and technologies (are) frequently rolled out without adequate public consultation (e.g. Street level view)." Google also has a "track history of ignoring privacy concerns," the report said. "Every corporate announcement involves some new practice involving surveillance."
In addition to Google's "aggressive use of invasive or potentially invasive technologies and techniques," the bad grade was given because of the "diversity and specificity" of Google's products and the ability to share data between them, as well as the company's market dominance and number of users.
Nicole Wong, deputy general counsel who oversees privacy issues at Google, argued that the report was inaccurate and misleading, and complained that Google didn't have a chance to respond to the criticisms.
"The allegations in the report misunderstood a number of our products," Wong said. "More importantly, when you look at the actual ranking, it misses the point on a lot of things we do very well."
For instance, the company partially anonymizes part of the Internet Protocol addresses of searchers after 18 to 24 months, while no other company has publicly stated their retention policy, she said. In addition, Google was the only one of 34 Internet companies to challenge a U.S. Justice Department subpoena on Web searches last year, Wong added.
Search engine expert Danny Sullivan sided with Google in his blog Search Engine Land but wondered if Google is entering new and increasingly controversial territory with its latest product.
See more CNET content tagged:
Google Inc., Google Maps, photograph
108 comments
Join the conversation! Add your comment
and cars and at time make the photos useless causing new ones to
have to be taken. If you don't want people seeing you do something
then don't do it on a PUBLIC street. Anyone who expects privacy on
a street corner (or any public place for that matter) needs help.
The harbinger of rampant information accumulation and subsequent thoughtless distribution to come. Ah, yes...that's our Wall Street darling sweetheart Google.
<a class="jive-link-external" href="http://preview.local.live.com/" target="_newWindow">http://preview.local.live.com/</a>
Also, make sure the mapping and photo taking vehicles are well marked. If you see one coming, hide your face! Maybe notifications that the mapping is taking place should be posted in the local newspapers.
Other than that, if you aren't doing anything wrong, why worry about the photos?
Shure, a man with a camera standing near my child´s playground, taking photos. But hey, the kids aren´t doing anything wrong, so why worry. Your wife/girlfriend is sunbathing in a public park (here in Europe that´s common) and a few days later you might see her photos at some obscure website, depicting more or less naked people, but hey, why worry, she´s not doing anything wrong.
My point is, there is just too much room for fraudulent use of these pictures (taken without our consent!) to just relax and not worry.
and see what the requirements are and where to send your resume.
Enough already!
So this is how they will get cameras on every street like they did in Britain. Let free enterprise install the cermas instead of the government.
Big Brother is still Big Brother.
As time goes on, information is flowing faster and faster. One either accepts that or gets off the grid...
I like this view, I just wish it were in more areas. But then I'm not paranoid about its usage; I mean so what? I'm not doing anything criminal and it's not like it's in your house or anything. That's where your privacy begins and ends - INSIDE YOUR PROPERTY. Everything else is fair game unless otherwise stated.
I first heard about Google when I watch a 60 minute program on privacy and the internet several years ago, way before the IPO.
Google had just acquired the rights to the Usenet. Google them promptly put up every post, without blinking an eye. Not a thought was given about being sensitive to people, for example what about people crying out for help with an abusing spouse? That's recorded forever and on display everywhere...
...No thanks to Google.
Then there was the massive amount of personal information that google proudly displays, no thought at all about peoples privacy. BUT when one of the Google founders was also Googled, and people found his address...and other sensitive information, lawyers were brought in to suppress the information.
...2-faced privacy policies, no thanks to Google
Google introduced sattelite maps. So now every burglar can scope out who's likely rich and who's not. Where's the best escape route... How to get into your house. Not even a thought about privacy,
...Again, no thanks to Google
Google acquires YouTube. YouTube, another company that could care less about privacy or copyright laws. Google only acquires the company because YouTube has the largest customer base, ethics be dammed.
Google gets sued for One Billion dollars by people concerned about the infringement on their copyrights. Only then does Google realize, we could lose Billion or more dollars. So they slowly start a process of digital id'ing material on YouTube.
...Greed without a thought about the consequences, brought to you via Google.
...Organized stealing, brought to you by Google and it's proxies.
So is it any surprize that Google now wants to take a photo of you and post it on the internet?
Why doesn't Google start posting all Medical Records?
Why doesn't Google start posting all credit reports?
Why doesn't Google start posting all driving records?
...
Oh, don't worry, they already have that information, and they are working on posting it to the Internet as soon as the right government is purchased.
"...Google introduced sattelite maps. So now every burglar can scope out who's likely rich and who's not. Where's the best escape route... How to get into your house. Not even a thought about privacy..."
Satellite maps have been around for a while, remember TerraServer? You can drive by a house and judge if the occupants are rich, you don't need an aerial shot to do so. And as for scoping out a house via satellite rather than on foot...any criminal doing that is pretty stupid.
Google's mapping interface is one of the most powerful tools...I have found directions (its default function of course), planned vacations, used its API to geolocate blog posts while traveling, projects for classes/studies, for my job...I have never heard of a documented use of Google Maps for criminal purposes.
<a class="jive-link-external" href="http://streetviewgallery.corank.com" target="_newWindow">http://streetviewgallery.corank.com</a>
Google has very clearly stated that they will keep your information away from anyone else, they just want to use it to better their products and services.
Don't say I didnt tell you so.
his mother was surprised he wasn't fired. Most companies have
coffee makers in the office so leaving the office could be a
fireable offense if it happens enough. Also what if this guy is in
the habit of taking say eight 15min coffee breaks a day all
before lunch? That sounds like a guy that need to be fired.
Note: I am not saying the guy should be fired I an just trying to
make a point. Getting a cup of coffee is hardly a reason to leave
the office during the work day, unless it is authorized.
It's doubtful that we will be able to return to a de facto condition of anonymity; so we will have to either adjust our behaviors, or change our standards of expectations of acceptability. Arthur C. Clarke's novel, "The Light of Other Days", presents a fascinating vision of what a worldwide society would look like with the total absence of privacy; as well as some of the threats people face during the emergence of such a condition.
Why is the "average" person justified in expecting their privacy, while celebrities are not?
Especially now, in a world where Reality Television and YouTube have blurred the line between public figures and the common man and hordes of people will file lawsuits in order to get their 15 minutes, it is quite apparent that everyone should be prepared to be a possible topic of conversation or at least a minor subject of attention.
This is open land.
If you show it then it will be seen.
If you don't want it to be shown then why do it?
The only use for google earth is for drunk men looking for nude beaches.
Google didn't put the eye in the sky--we did.
I cannot help but wonder if all of this concern for privacy isn?t just the reflection of a guilty conscience.
that provides emergency medicine, reproductive medicine, HIV
treatment, domestic violence counseling, etc.? Pictures of people
coming and going from there are not really needed and certainly
not very sensitive to patients who may not want their faces
shown to the world. Indeed, the idea that google vans are going
to photograph people coming and going from a medical center
may discourage some from seeking needed care.
This is a medical center near Google's home, they should know
what it is and be sensitive to patients. This should be an obvious
place not to take pictures. (Also, as a top 10 medical center it is
considered a likely terrorist target which is another reason a
responsible company would not want to post pictures of it, but I
guess if they'll post pictures of the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel they
just don't give a <bleep> about anybody but themselves).
Hey let's all go to the Google campuses and photograph
everybody coming and going and create a website filled with
pictures of every googler!
There must be a critical mass of turnover which turns a company from "best kept secret" into a paria to be avoided at all cost. I don't have a problem with what Google do and as a search engine it certainly seems to work reasonably well.
Maybe it's our fault? We always expect growth and developement. Any company which does something well but doesn't move on from there is seen as going backwards.
As for "considered a likely terrorist target..." How often is the paranoid card going to come out of the pack? If you let these "terrorists" change your life - they've won!
Posting pictures of the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel -- how dare they!? They'll steal it's soul
Many people have said that we should not consider that we have privacy outside of our homes. Why not? I'm not out doing anything wrong. However, I don't think it's right that Google takes my picture and makes it available to anyone on the Internet. It's none of your business. I am not being paranoid. I just think we need to be more careful and more vocal about groups and governments doing this type of thing. Let one group do one thing ... then the next group will take it a little farther ... then the next. Is this how we, as a society, want to live? I think not.
<a class="jive-link-external" href="http://www.kerika.com/2007/06/free-software-free-beer-and-free-lunch.html" target="_newWindow">http://www.kerika.com/2007/06/free-software-free-beer-and-free-lunch.html</a>
What is astounding is that they have a overall positive public perception.
Well it took many years for people to clue in that MS is evil. Hopefully it won't take that long with Google, else they will own all of us.
What is almost as amazing is that people trust them to store emails of every kind, and they don't mind Google creeping around their computers.
Google is a company that abuses the privacy of countless millions, most of whom don't even realize they are under surveillance. Google is not a benevolent company. They are the new Microsoft, and in some ways even worse then that vile, worthless blood sucking company.
My dad showed me his Google Earth after I read 1984 in my sophomore year. I saw my mom's van parked right in front of Kinko's, obviously a morning snapshot. Dad said, "If they give those technologies, imagine how much content they have to themselves, and others.
Why else would stocks jump 400 points? It's a search engine...Ad space is meager profit.