The UK has given the all clear for Google's Street View

Posted on April 23, 2009

The United Kingdom's Information Commissioner's Office has given Google's controversial Street View program an all clear after a heated debate over invasion of privacy. "It would not be in the public interest to 'turn the digital clock back", said David Evans of the UK Information Commissioner's Office. This comes after many have been protesting over Google producing public images of private property. In one instance, residents blocked a Google camera vehicle in the middle of a street.

On 3 April 2009, it was reported in the press that residents of the village of Broughton in Buckinghamshire formed a human barrier to stop a Google car from photographing the village, expressing fears that it was "invading [the villagers'] privacy" and "facilitating crime." As also reported in the press, contrary reactions have come from some Internet users, who have called on people to "descend on the village to snap their own perfectly legal photographs."

"The phrase 'small risk of privacy detriment' betrays the slightly wrong mindset at the Information Commissioner's office as they are having to adopt a reactive approach when it's far too late to really do anything about it.

"They should have been involved much earlier, because Google could - and should - have done a much better job and the Information Commissioner needs to be involved at a much earlier stage; in other words, when it is being designed and not finished."

He added: "I'm not saying Street View is evil and should be taken down, but it shouldn't be up to individuals to spot breaches of privacy and get them taken down.

"So far, the breaches have just been embarrassing - someone being sick, someone else leaving a sex shop - but it's possible someone could find themselves being unfairly divorced because an innocent image could be interpreted wrongly."

Google claim that they have "engaged" with the Information Commissioner's office throughout the development process and say that they have created "easy to use removal tools"

~Dr Ian Brown, Oxford Internet Institute (via BBC.com article)

I try to keep personal opinion out of these kinds of articles so as not to offend any of our readers; however, I don't believe that Google is doing anything wrong in this case. Their camera vehicles are on public streets where anyone can be at anytime, and are therefore the images should be treated as public property and shouldn't fall under private/individual scrutiny.

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