Google ''Street View'' Hits the Streets, Raises Concerns

[DeSwiss]

Google Hits the Streets, Raises Concerns

Jun 1, 6:51 PM (ET)

By MICHAEL LIEDTKE

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Google Inc. bills the latest twist on its online maps as "Street View," but it looks a bit like "Candid Camera" as you cruise through the panorama of pictures that captured fleeting moments in neighborhoods scattered across the country.

In San Francisco, there's a man picking his nose on a street corner, another fellow taking out the trash and another guy scaling the outside of an apartment building, perhaps just for fun or maybe for some more sinister purpose.

Further down the highway at Stanford University, there's the titillation of a couple coeds sunbathing in their bikinis. In San Jose, there's the rather sad sight of a bearded man apparently sleeping - or did he just pass out? - in the shadow of a garbage can, with what appears to be an empty cup perched in front of him. In Miami, there's a group of protesters carrying signs outside an abortion clinic. In other cities, you can see men entering adult book stores or leaving strip joints.

Potentially embarrassing or compromising scenes like these are raising questions about whether the Internet's leading search engine has gone too far in its latest attempt to make the world a more accessible - and transparent - place. "Everyone expects a certain level of anonymity as they move about their daily lives," said Kevin Bankston, a staff attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a group devoted to protecting people's rights on the Internet. "There is a certain 'ick' factor here."

Google is hoping to elicit "oohs and ahhs" with Street View, which was introduced on its maps for the San Francisco Bay area, New York, Las Vegas, Denver and Miami earlier this week. The Mountain View-based company already is planning to expand the service to other U.S. cities and other countries.

http://apnews.myway.com//article/20070601/D8PGA6E80.html

Sample "street views":

-----------------Sunbathers-------------------------------------- Nosepicker-----------------

Google Street View: http://maps.google.com/help/maps/streetview/index.html

Wired.com's Street View Page: http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2007/05/request_for_urb.html

[AnnInLa]

1. I tried to use Street Views yesterday, but

couldn't make it zoom in enough to see actual people....anyone using it successfully? Tips?

[DeSwiss]

4. I tried a couple...

...at the Wired.com's page (above link in OP) that had a number of street views that had been captured and uploaded for rating. It worked okay, but it was kinda fuzzy looking...

[MadHound]

2. Another reason that I'm glad I live in the country

Leave behind those goddamn cameras everywhere.

[Mist]

3. I think I'd prefer a "Google Capitol" view--K Street, restaurants where

lobbyists and elected officials go for lunch, that kinda thing. Leave the rest of us alone.

[DeSwiss]

5. Now there ya go....

...we should have all of DC "street-viewed."

If for no other reason than the safety of our children.....

[blogslut]

7. Is it in D.C?

Isn't the coverage limited to certain cities right now?

[DeSwiss]

8. The article says....

"Street View, was introduced on its maps for the San Francisco Bay area, New York, Las Vegas, Denver and Miami earlier this week."

[Rydz777]

9. I'm sympathetic to your point. We are indeed rapidly moving

into a "Brave New World," living more and more in a virtual reality. The "natural reality" has its down sides, but I still find it more comfortable than its virtual cousin.

[Mountainman]

6. I'm not sure why but this doesn't seem good to me. It is passive voyeurism.

It's ok to do because you are being the voyeur second hand and no one knows your are doing it. We all have to get use to living in a fish bowl I suppose. Because of the way society is going today, I'm not feeling too bad about being in my sixties and will leave this planet before it gets too fucked up.