Google Street View - what do you think?

[julabean]

I''m definitely in the camp that this feels a bit Big Brotherish. My city hasn''t made it onto that yet, but I can check out the streets of very good friends of mine who live in other parts of the country. Definitely creepy, in my opinion!

 

[Deelight]

I don''t like it at all, I agree it is an invasion of privacy and really they shouldn''t be posting pictures with people or identifying information in it.

 

[icekid]

I love it! When I miss Philly, I can wander over on google at look at my old neighborhood

And I agree it is helpful when you don't know where you're going; you can take a quick look and have a better idea of what you'll see in the vicinity.

eta- I honestly never even considered before that it might make some uncomfortable! I truly don't think that it's high quality enough to identify much of anything re: who you are, house numbers, etc. They're not watching; they drove by once! And I don't think criminals require google maps to figure out where the nice neighborhoods are located. Maybe it's the big city girl in me that is not bothered by it...

 

[arjunajane]

Date: 8/5/2008 4:00:15 PM
Author: radiantquest
it wouldnt let me in that close. i guess because of all the trees. i guess i should consider it a blessing that the picture doesnt show me outside hanging clothes on the line or something

that is a little weird that you are actually in the picture. do you remember the day? how long ago was it taken?

radiant,
thats the thing i know when it was taken. Not the exact day, but due to a couple things in the photo that aren't usually there I know it was taken about 3 weeks ago!

I have checked and mine, my folks, my grandmother, my sister - all of our houses are there in pretty good detail.

Like I said originally, I also appreciate the novelty and useful aspect of it.
i just think people should perhaps be given the choice whether they want their stuff up or no...

Thankyou to the people that have offered constructive opinions.

 

[D2B]

Google has a function where if you e-mail them they will blur the image of people.

I dont know, it is really useful for finding your way around a new area, checking out houses for renting/buying etc.

It is only a photo in time, not a real life image which changes. So not sure why I should be concerned. I would be worried if it was real time images. An old photo from a year ago or last week, that doesnt get updated doesnt really fuss me.

However, just to add to the paraonoia

, apparently in the UK some teens have been using google to find pools in backyards and having gatecrashing pool parties at strangers places - not good at all

, simply based on the google info. Since it is happening here in the UK, only a matter of time before it takes off elsewere, that aspect would annoy me immensely if I had a pool.

pb

 

[LaraOnline]

OMG! My house is there (and I DO live in western australia, in a rural area), my man has an expensive horse trailer out the front that can't be stored currently...
It's only been out there since June 30. This is kinda uncool...no-one asked permission to take photos of me / my house. This is like the paparazzie for plebs...

I could see that in many (if not MOST) cases of non-business people using this technology, the curiosity might have an invasion-of-privacy edge...
I mean, what are you googling your friends houses for anyway, if you could just visit tomorrow, or have them SEND you a photo??
This is like... invented SPECIFICALLY for stalkers!!