New web pictures, invasion of privacy?

quite some time ago, google started a project to get photographs of EVERY street in the United States. they would get pictures in a complete circle and upload it to the internet. these pictures are avaiable to the public today and i myself have seen them. you can turn in any of the 360 degree angles. but there's a problem, many say they getting very uncomfortably....close. if you look a some houses, you can actually see the inside of them and there were some pictures of ppl doing questionable things. there was a picture of a man climbing a fence, a man urinating on a wall, and 2 nude college students lying on the grass. is this an invasion of privacy or not?

the arguement that it is not is saying that since Google only took pictures from the street it is NOT invading privacy since anyone on the street can see these things. so if the ppl didn' t want to get caught doing that, they shouldn't have done it on the street.

the arguement saying that it IS invasion of privacy is saying that even though anyone on the street can see a man urinating, or someone coming out of an adult book store, the entire world does not need to know that.

thoughts?

 

It's not an invasion of privacy as such, as it is a public place. If people are insane/dense enough to do such things during the day in full view of the street then they deserve their photos beamed across the world via the internet >_>

Although, I suppose Google should either censor, edit, or screen photos for indecent parts.

 

i actually don't know which side to be with in this issue

 

Well, when I've looked at the maps, they are never exposing more than the streets around and you can only get so close. I have never seen into someone's home or anything since the zoom won't let you even do that. You see mostly roofs and such. So I don't know why anyone would think that.

Also, I found it kind of cool that you could see in vivid detail blocks and such. If someone is 'urinating' outside then that's their problem. I don't think you could sensor it and well, if you are going to be looking at things such as that...oh well. I really don't see the video quality letting you see that much of it, in all seriousness. It zooms only so close so that people are tiny, and I have a pretty big screen LCD monitor so if I can't see such a thing, I don't see how others are. If they do though, oh well. It's public. I do think though showing backyards and stuff might be wrong but again, I've never seen anything so detailed as what you described. I looked at where I live and others live etc and really...people aren't that noticeable.

 

Your talking about Google Earth right?

Well there is that issue, though Google Earth is only a bird's eye view, so if there was an adult store you wouldn't be able to see it, unless you know where it was. Also you can't make out exactly who it is. Pictures are constantly updated, especailly on the full most expensive version.

Though it could in the future get to a stage where you can see right up close to a few inches, where or not that will be made public...well that is a different story, but I guess you could say it is an issue.

But currently as it stands...no, it's not.

 

no, not Google Earth. it's some other thing that allows you to view Streets from the perspective of a person on teh street. it's VERY detailed i have to say. it's only available in Chicago, New York, and Philadelphia as of now. i can't seem to find the pictures again. but i saw a picture of a man climbing a fence and many ppl are wondering: was he locked out? is he breaking into someone's home? trust me, these street pictures are VERY detailed

 

wow, those people are idiots to have done those...very questionable acts... (found my house on google earth ^.^) but yeah, they deserve to have those photos beamed across the internet (with a little censoring though). if i found out that, i'd make sure they were done with that before i go out 0_o. and i think robbers, pervs, ect. could use it to target someone, but maybe not if google doesnt put in the street names and blurs out street names if they see a Road name post thing.

 

Well, most of the stuff Google has on Google Earth is several months old...unless, of course, you have the upgraded version. Everything that is placed inside of those maps in terms of cars and the like are edited in.

The only satellite images that can zoom in close enough to actually see INSIDE a house is a spy satellite, which are used by the government. Those things are scary...they can go real-time, and see through windows to a perfect view of the inside. However, these images are kept private and there's no reason to use them on ordinary civilians.

 

I'd be interested in seeing these pics because google earth doesn't allow you to get that close. So if you can, find us some links or what the actual program is. I live in NY so I could look into it but I honestly can't find anything that is like what you mentioned on google at all.

 

it's NOT GOOGLE EARTH. hang on, lemme see if i can find it.

EDIT: i can't find it. but it's somewhere on google. i believe you search in maps, and then you can zoom in. then it brings up a camera where you can move the screen in any direction as if you were actually ON the street.

 

It's an invasion of privacy as much as you can get. Literlaly anyone can be a stalker now without having to leave the house. People have a right to do things in there own homes, nothing wrong with that. Google needss to step back a bit.

 

I think I have found what you mean and it's Flash Earth, which is not only a google thing, but also shows maps in other forms as well. Still, it shows them 'above' from a satelite view and I can find nothing that goes to viewing inside someone's house at all.

Here is the site so others can investigate.

http://www.flashearth.com/

To zoom in use the mouse roll, and to lock on a target, click the mouse over an area. On any of the types of maps, it will stop at a certain distance and not allow you clarity to go closer into a picture. It has google maps, microsoft VE, Yahoo, Ask.com, and Nasa Terra. You can play around with them all.

If this isn't it, I can't find anything else under google that it is and I do live in NY so it shouldn't be blocked from me.

 

no....it's not it, i wish i could find it, then it would be able to spark a real discussion

 

I remember going on that site once...

It really was suprising

 

They should call it "Stalker earth." I don't think that the service serves any purpose but to be spied on. Why else would i wanna look at street horded with people, unless i had a motive.

 

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=...m_source=en-ha-na-us-google-svn&utm_medium=ha

*Sigh* Click a camera , press zoom in, click an area in the blue lines,and have fun....