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Google Street View

 
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RockitRon



Joined: 07 Dec 2006
Posts: 7646

PostPosted: Sun Mar 22, 2009 12:19 pm    Post subject: Google Street View Reply with quote

The talk of the office (so I'm told) on Friday, and much time wasted looking at peoples' houses in the process.

It's very clear - makes one appreciate the value of old-fashioned net curtains. On mum-in-law's (who thought she was being very modern doing without) you can see right in to her lounge and the painting she has on the wall - I'll wait until after Mother's Day is over before telling her!

A random example - http://maps.google.com/maps?q=63%20Somersby%20Road%20Arnold%20Nottingham%20NG5&rls=com.microsoft:en-gb&oe=UTF-8&startIndex=&startPage=1&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wl (Click on Street View, then click one turn left)

No, it's not me Smile

http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article5945132.ece
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Rachel
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PostPosted: Sun Mar 22, 2009 7:31 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Wait til the double glazing/loft extension/driveway paving folk start using this service...... a cold callers dream... if ever they do our place - I'm minded to have it removed, although hubby says he doesn't mind...
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RockitRon



Joined: 07 Dec 2006
Posts: 7646

PostPosted: Mon Mar 23, 2009 4:02 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

If only they were so selective. They'll knock and ask you if you want ***** even if it's obvious to a three-year-old that you've just had it done.

When we had a new kitchen, with the fitter's van parked outside and all the old fixtures and appliances stacked up ready for disposal, someone from a rival knocked on the door and asked if we were thinking of having a new kitchen. Rolling Eyes (They do bathrooms as well- he never thought of that)
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colby



Joined: 06 Feb 2009
Posts: 1216

PostPosted: Mon Mar 23, 2009 4:18 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Apart from the tenacious god squaddies (who just never seem to get the message that there isn't a god) we don't get cold callers at the door. However, we still get those who call from outside the UK to get round the fact that we're registered with TPS. After a 10-minute scripted pre-amble when I'm asked to offer my amazement at their fabulous offer for double-glazing I say, "I've just agreed the sale of my house so I don't need it thanks". One cheeky s*d recently then asked if I wanted new glazing in my new home, to which I responded that it was a brand new build so was hardly likely. Two weeks later he called back asking if I'd moved yet!
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RockitRon



Joined: 07 Dec 2006
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PostPosted: Mon Mar 23, 2009 4:55 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I get energy companies, Npower three times in one week recently. They're already aware who supplies your energy (I won't go there... Evil or Very Mad ), and one of their obviously scripted lines beggars belief:
"You know **** (competitor) is a German company, don't you?" Rolling Eyes
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RockitRon



Joined: 07 Dec 2006
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PostPosted: Mon Mar 23, 2009 5:45 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Just going back to topic, it strikes me that there isn't much traffic about on any of the views. Can't have been a weekend - roads are free of parked cars. Had a look in the City - shops closed and Little John showing 8.10, morning, to judge by the shadows.
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Lord Evan Elpuss



Joined: 10 Dec 2006
Posts: 3417
Location: Cloud Cuckoo Land

PostPosted: Mon Mar 23, 2009 6:06 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

RockitRon wrote:
I get energy companies, Npower three times in one week recently. They're already aware who supplies your energy (I won't go there... Evil or Very Mad ), and one of their obviously scripted lines beggars belief:
"You know **** (competitor) is a German company, don't you?" Rolling Eyes

If you really wanted to engage them in conversation, perhaps you should have asked Npower which country owned them. What would their answer have been?
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RockitRon



Joined: 07 Dec 2006
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 24, 2009 12:18 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

A formal complaint has now been made to the Information Commissioner, by Privacy International, which cites 200 reports from people who are clearly identifiable in the images.

Although Google claims "The ICO has repeatedly made clear that it believes that in Street View the necessary safeguards are in place to protect people's privacy", PI director Simon Davies said that Street View didn't comply with the assurances given to the ICO in order for it to launch. For example, the criteria included the blurring of car registration plates and people's faces".

But people, and registration plates have been identifiable - play around with the example I gave and you can read some of the car and van number plates. Illogically, some road nameplates and house number plaques have been blurred, others not.

They are asking for the system to be switched off while an investigation is undertaken, and all such images removed or pixilated unless they have the owner's permission.

There will of course be the "nothing to hide, nothing to fear" argument. But some people who have done nothing wrong have fallen foul of Street View - including "a woman who had moved house to escape a violent partner but who was recognisable outside her new home on Street View. Also complaining were two colleagues pictured in an apparently compromising position who suffered embarrassment when the image was circulated at their workplace."

There is also the point that no-one (usually) complains when they're caught incidentally, in the background, of a newspaper photograph or television shot, but they're gone in an instant, or a day, not a matter of permanent record.

Google have promised to act quickly on all requests to opt out or remove identifiable persons or details captured, but, really, why should they be doing it reactively, with the onus on the private individual to complain. Shouldn't the responsibility lie with Google to ensure that it complies with the criteria it agreed to, and not invade people's privacy this way? They took these images at least eight months ago, and I think they've had enough time to have proactively removed all such detail.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7959362.stm
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Ian Robinson
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Joined: 11 Dec 2006
Posts: 3608
Location: Chorley, Lancashire

PostPosted: Tue Mar 24, 2009 12:22 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Seeing as I can't get a Street View of anywhere remotely near me, I don't really see what the fuss is about!
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Shaky Fan



Joined: 11 Dec 2006
Posts: 628

PostPosted: Tue Mar 24, 2009 9:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The Belfast ones have thrown up an interesting problem with the way that faces are pixlated where possible. Around the city there are many wall murals with pictures of various people associated with "the Troubles". Some of these - such as hunger striker Bobby Sands - have been blurred out.

Its also been pointed out that there is a security risk to the likes of army barracks - a particularly sensitive area given recent events here....
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