 |
|
| CURRENT SECTION :: News | UK's most visited IT Contractor Site - 250k unique visitors March 2008 |
|
 |
Remember Trigger Happy TV? One of its most famous sketches was where they greeted highly embarrassed and unamused sex shop customer with a fanfare and a banner as he exited the shop. Well, Google aren’t planning to go that far, but you might want to watch out for any black Opels with strange contraptions on their roofs next time you’re about to get up to something you shouldn’t. The fleet of cars have been spotted the length and breadth of the UK over the past few weeks, and they’re not hard to spot, sporting a roof-mounted camera that more than doubles the height of the vehicle, and turns it into something resembling a CCTV camera on wheels. In fact, so ubiquitous have the cars become that a number of Google maps have been set up by enterprising internet users to log sightings. When launched, the service will provide a British equivalent of the search engine’s Street View service, which is now available for a number of large American cities. The application shows you a 360-degree panoramic view of just about any street you choose to click on. The news that the service is coming to the UK has attracted the attention of British campaign group Privacy International, which has raised concerns not just about the privacy of sex shop customers, but also of the possibility of the information being used for crime such as blackmail or burglary. But the UK’s Information Commissioner has declared himself satisfied that it doesn’t represent a threat to anyone’s safety or privacy, and that it’s perfectly legal. “Although it is possible that in certain limited circumstances an image may allow identification of an individual, it is clear that Google are keen to capture images of streets and not individuals,” said the Information Commissioner’s office in a statement last week, citing the planned use of “the blurring of vehicle registration marks and the faces of anyone included in Street View images” as sufficient reason not to worry. "The Data Protection Act is irrelevant to Google unless people can be identified in the scenes,” said Struan Robertson of Pinsent Masons. “There will be some cases where the blurring technology misses a face, but that's not a reason to shut down the service. These people can complain to Google if they're upset by the image and they can have the photos removed. If they've suffered damage and distress as a consequence of the photographs, they could sue." But whilst the site may have been given the green light here, the battle goes on in the US, at least for Pennsylvania couple Aaron and Christine Boring. The pair sued Google for $25,000 when images of their home that could only be accessed via a private road appeared online. In its legal response, Google claimed “Today's satellite-image technology means that even in today's desert, complete privacy doesn’t exist” – a claim that was met with outrage by Ken Boehm, chairman of the National Legal and Policy Center, who pointed out that the company had previously told a Californian politician that it “takes privacy very seriously”. “Google’s hypocrisy is breathtaking,” he said. By way of clarification, the search engine issued a statement saying: “The response quotes and expands upon an existing legal opinion to help frame the response. It should not be interpreted as a blanket statement on our views towards privacy.” The Borings aren’t the only people who have found themselves the unwitting subjects of the Street Veiw Cameras. There are pictures circulating online of topless sunbathers, people committing burglaries, and, yes, customers of adult bookshops and strip clubs. There is, however, no sign of sex shop customers online as yet. Graham Taylor Aug 5, 2008 Email this article Printer friendly page Previous Page
|
|
  |
||||||||||||||||||||||||
| All content © Contractor UK Limited | http://www.contractoruk.com/lists/?p=subscribe&id=1[Register for News Letter] | [Privacy Statement] | [Terms of Use] | [Top of Page] |