Google maps: invasion of privacy

[cancerinform]

Just my 2 cents - if you are worried about burglars using it to plan a robbery of your house, I would be more concerned with a security system then getting the picture taken off.

That's a valid point , but that is not all my concern.

From what I see the so-called "freedom" of the internet turns out not to be freedom any more. Control now becomes easier.

silverx2 you haven't read anything I wrote or did cherry picking.

[gerbick]

You never answered my question.

How did you find your address? I know your name, full name... your e-mail address, and generic state where you're situated and can not locate you.

[silverx2]

"Today I found a nice picture of our house in Google maps. I don't want others to see our house. I consider it invasion of privacy. Let's stand up and fight against it."

its not an invasion of privacy, your over reacting

"If they just show my house, fine, but it is associated with an address, not fine. So next they show my name, phone and what kind of color hair girls I like and what my income is, if they are not stopped. May be they already report all those data to the government."

Wrap your house in tinfoil, and disconect the internet, dont use a telephone, the terminators are coming for you

"It's my privacy too. I don't have the right to not have my house exposed in the internet? Where are we?"

we are on the planet earth, more specifically the united states, unless you have some sort of highly secret project, or are the target of north korea your house is not getting taken off all the websites with satalite image searches by addresses.

"I am now also considering removing Google from other services. When something is bad then it is monopoly. When I look at Google I get the impression we are in a communist country. It seems to be the nearly only search engine people are using. Time to change including services they provide."

possibly one of the dumbest things i have ever read. Google is worldwide jackass. alot of people use google because its the best, simplest, easiest way to find stuff. might as well not use a combustion engine in your car.. since thats what everyone is using.

"China!"

Nazi Germany

"I am not talking about finding an address. I can use a book map too. I am talking about associating images with my address."

there are a crapton of websites that allow this, stop *****ing about google being communist. or build a box around your house

"Only Google does it in a very detailed way. And I have never used Google maps until yesterday when my wife told me about our house and I am not going to use it any more. My wife is also not very excited. What is the sense of showing residential areas, houses one by one? Our house is not for sale so no reason to exhibit it."

no they arnt.

"I have the feeling I have eaten the apple in the paradise "
Wow, so you feel that you have eaten from the tree of knowledge, and that you are better then the rest of us that use google?

"silverx2 you haven't read anything I wrote or did cherry picking."

not only did i read everything, i also cherry picked it all.

[cancerinform]

Sorry, did not see that. There are white pages etc. You probably need to pay to get the address. But getting it should not be a problem.

SilverX thanks for that and I am definitely not smarter than anybody else here and that was not what I wanted to say (see the context). But one thing, if you want to see your house, why don't you step outside and look at your house, then take nice pictures and send them to your friends, relatives. That is the way I was used to until now apparently. That is what I call privacy.

[CVO Chris]

Aren't there worse invasions of privacy perpetuated by the government and telecommunication companies going on in the United States than some internet company taking a picture of your house?

[cancerinform]

Sure, but do we need more of that crap? Again why residential areas?

[hanratty21]

You never answered my question either. Whats the difference between google posting images they took from a moving truck, or me driving up to where you live and taking some quick snaps from the middle of the public street? Are you insinuating that there should be an assumed barrier in front of your house from photographs which may or may not be public domain? Again, if I can see it from the street, what is it according to you that makes it NOT fair game?

[silverx2]

Sorry, did not see that. There are white pages etc. You probably need to pay to get the address. But getting it should not be a problem.

SilverX thanks for that and I am definitely not smarter than anybody else here and that was not what I wanted to say (see the context). But one thing, if you want to see your house, why don't you step outside and look at your house, then take nice pictures and send them to your friends, relatives. That is the way I was used to until now apparently. That is what I call privacy.

then move to an area that cant be seen by satalite.

[gerbick]

Sorry, did not see that. There are white pages etc. You probably need to pay to get the address. But getting it should not be a problem.

Then your information is more public domain than just Google. If I have multiple ways and places to find your information, then why not dispute that too?

Simply put... if your address is obtainable via:

the white pages
the yellow pages
whois information
prior publications that you've been involved in/published
google

So with that... you've chosen just one. You can have your number de-listed. You can have your address removed from the white/yellow pages. You can change your e-mail address. And you can request that your house is blurred.

Invasion of privacy would mean (to me) that you couldn't do anything about it. As it stands, you can. Just haven't.

[ihoss.com]

So your main problem is that if I know your address, then I can find out what kind of house you live in WITHOUT driving to where you live and looking at your house? Oh, and there are maps of your neighborhood freely available at the local town hall which shows a lot more interesting stuff (like water and electricity into your house). They also show how large your house is.

[argonauta]

First, you can move to North Oaks, Minnesota, as they've already managed to get google street view out of their town ( more: http://www.betanews.com/article/Minn...iew/1212435742 )
As you'll see, they managed to do that because its a private community with privately owned streets...so if you leave in such a community, you can ask for the removal of streetview in your area.

I don't think you can do anything about satellite photos though.

Also, I think you live in a country with enough freedom to not use google if you're afraid you might be tracked. You have freedom to sue them if they not comply with what you think is reasonable (remove the photo due to privacy issues), and if you don't believe in the system, you're free to move to a country where you think laws are fair (you don't live in Cuba or a communist country).

Also, providing tools with which you can commit a crime, doesn't mean that the tool is illegal. Following your logic, to the extreme, I think that not only google should be banned, but also computers, because with enough software, I could hack your system and follow every single move you make on the internet. By the way, some mods (if not all) here on flashkit, have access to my ip, right? the forum provides that....the forum should be closed, because it provides information for a mod to get my ip, hack me, and stalk me.

Also, I'm interesting in knowing what kind of private information did Google disclose about you? I mean, would I find out anything interesting about you that couldn't find by my own means if I knew your address? Couldn't I just go infront of your house and see exactly the same thing I can see on google? As you said, you don't want people finding out if you live in a trailer or a million dollar home...but how can you hide that to people that already know your address, which I think it's the only way to find your house in google maps? Couldn't i just drive there, or if I really need to, hire somebody to go look and take pics? I would say it constitutes a violation of privacy if google maps show photos of you making love to a table, which is definitely something you would like to hide, and that would be really hard to find and even if found, should probably not be published, but if it's a photo of your house, and nothing else, I really don't see where privacy has been violated (obviously I'm not a lawyer, and have a different point of view than yours, so I don't understand you).

[cancerinform]

But you live in so and so and you have to drive.

[cancerinform]

The discussion is really interesting, because from what I read here you guys give companies a free ride to do whatever they want to do without restriction, absolute power.

[gerbick]

No. I have an unpublished phone number. A public e-mail address(-es) that I allow people to use, but I protect my private one, and my property is accessible from the air, but you don't quite see the two dogs that protect my yard... nor the gun(s) that I own and are licensed to own.

I would claim that it's not an invasion of privacy unless I could locate my security number and/or other personal information out there. But the likeness of my house and other public things, like the streets... aren't really of my concern. That's not a free ride to anybody.

That's protecting what needs to be protected.

[WannaBe_80z]

what does that last comment even mean?

that was meant for cancerinform.

[FlashLackey]

FL - Please re-read what I posted. I said nothing about the inside of the house. I talked about the facade and the facade only. It's a reasonable expectation. If you can see it from the street, it's fair game. Not if you can see it after climbing a pole, strapping on a telephoto with infrared scanning to find someone playing with themselves two rooms down the hall. Thanks for the misinterpretation...

The problem is that you quoted me and I did say something about the inside of the house. So, I guess we're even on the misinterperetation.

In order for it to be illegal to find someone playing with themselves two rooms down the hall, there has to be some basis. Presumably, that is a right to privacy. There is legal precedent for finding people guilty of finding someone playing with themselves two rooms down the hall. I believe that precedent has implications on systems such as Google maps. If Google can do it legally, a peeping tom only has to say that they are interested in the structure of the facade of the house from a high angle. There just happened to be a nude woman through the window. If the basis of these rulings is that the victim of the crime intended not to be seen and the criminal violated that intention, Google is also violating some peoples intention to have themselves or their private property not be seen.

It seems perfectly reasonable to me that a person should at least be able to "opt out."

[cougrhky20]

I still don't understand why people should be able to "opt out". However, I think the bigger problem is people are just scared of change...the fact that I can now go see your place on the internet instead of just walking/driving there myself.

[FlashLackey]

From LR's post:

As said before, taking pictures in public places is legal and there is not expectation of privacy in public places. Thus, what could be the stand for a lawsuit against Google Street View? Well, this cause of action is yet to be developed and this may occur when courts are willing to re-examine the concept of privacy in this high tech era.

This is the key, imo. The street views may be perfectly fine because they are public places. But, the satelite views do capture places that there IS an expectation of privacy and people have gone to great lengths to make areas of their yard, etc. private with trees, fences, etc. It does not seem reasonable to me that people should be told that they now have to build a box around their property to stay private just so Google (and other map providers) can reap the benefits themselves of pictures of their property.

As I suggested along with the article, this may be an area that needs new law. Just like if x-ray vision were invented and available, new law would undoubtedly be needed to address the technology.

[FlashLackey]

I still don't understand why people should be able to "opt out". However, I think the bigger problem is people are just scared of change...the fact that I can now go see your place on the internet instead of just walking/driving there myself.

The difference is that you can now see areas of someones property that you could not have seen before by walking/driving there yourself. A person might have invested a lot of money into making their back yard private from neighbors and public areas, for example. Google and other map providers remove that privacy.

[cougrhky20]

But what are you hiding? I can understand if you put trees or a fence up or both so that you can relax or do whatever you want in your back yard while you have a "feeling" of privacy and that no one is watching you. But, this isn't a live view of what you're doing. It's a simple aerial photo. If you're that angry about a satellite taking pictures, then why not box up your house anyways so people on helicopters can't take pics either.