Google is streets ahead

So Google’s Streetview service has recently got the go-ahead to launch in the UK amid widespread controversy. The service, which allows internet users to view panoramic 360 degree views at street level was launched in the US last May and has since expanded to France, Italy and Australia. Google’s camera-equipped cars have also been spotted in most European destinations as well as Japan and New Zealand.

“Our ambition is to be a world map” says Lars Rasmussen, one of Google’s original creators of Google Maps. And at this rate, they certainly look like they are going to realise that vision.

For their ambitious venture and dogged determination Google should be applauded, but the service has upset a wide audience of individuals and civil liberty groups.

To what extent is our privacy being intruded upon? What measures are being taken by Google to protect it and what are the long term implications of Streetview?

Many of the original photographs used for the US launch were quickly removed after serious concerns for privacy were raised. They included a woman in a G-string, a bloke strolling into a porn store and a man relieving himself on the pavement. A US couple has already served Google’s first related lawsuit, because photos of their home, on a private road, appeared on Streetview. In court documents filed in Google’s defence, they claimed that “complete privacy does not exist”. An arrogant stance that has been heavily criticised. Ken Boehm, chairman of the U.S. National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC) responded “Perhaps in Google’s world privacy does not exist, but in the real world individual privacy is fundamentally important and is being chipped away bit by bit every day by companies like Google”.  Ouch, a caustic but accurate reflection of the general public’s concerns!

Google has quickly implemented safeguards including the blurring of vehicle registration marks and faces and the use of image removal tools but by their own admission, this automated process is not foolproof. However, The Information Commissioner’s office, the UK’s independent authority that protects personal information is convinced by this development. They say the ‘delay’ between the images being captured by the fleet of Google cars and their release for public consumption, post production, is sufficient to alleviate any security or privacy concerns.

It would seem that this ‘delay’ is the main assurance. But what if the next development is our streets being captured in real time for all to see? The growth of a big brother state is already well documented: it is calculated that each person is caught on camera an average of 300 times daily; analysts are predicting a tenfold increase in the number of CCTV cameras in the UK in the next five years. Already we have local councils digitally spying on us to ensure that we do not drop litter, that we place our wheelie bins outside our homes on the correct day of the week and that we park our vehicles in the designated spaces.

If the ‘chipping’ effect that Ken Boehm describes continues, and with technology briskly marching forward, it is not unreasonable to consider that companies like Google could soon have the capabilities and financial incentives to install affordable cameras on every street and highway. What was a service aimed at the traveller, student and researcher would then become a very attractive, saleable product to other audiences including law enforcement agencies, government and private business.

Greg Woods is a recent arrival to Score Communications and joins as Creative Director.