Hampton Roads is one of 37 new areas being added to Google’s Street View. Go here, punch in an address and you are presented with a picture of that address. Not only that, you can have a virtual tour of the neighborhood, using the navigation buttons.
My own home is mostly obscured but others in my neighborhood are not. I can clearly read the yard signs, as it appears that these photos were taken sometime last fall, prior to the November election.
So what do you think? Is this a privacy violation? Or is it just cool to “walk” through a neighborhood?
VIVIAN J. PAIGE | All Politics is Local 
It stinks. Google is making voyeurs of us all.
It’s inevitable. The technology to do this has been available now for forty years or so. As a geographer, I’ve been using such information for a very long time; I just prefer to be able to obtain it at the click of a mouse AND for free. Would you prefer only the government have this ability? Besides, how cool is it that you can visit a place and get to know the lay of the land without ever having been there?
I think it is a little difficult to see this as a privacy issue. If they came around snapping pictures inside of someone’s window, I could see the concern. However, if I wanted to just drive down to Hampton Roads and check out a few random neighborhoods, I could, and no one would challenge me on it due to “privacy”, seeing as they would be on public roads.
Simply put, there is a risk putting anything in your yard. If you are concerned for backlash for putting up a sign supporting Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton or John McCain or anyone else, it will not necessarily be because of Google. Better to be wise about what you place in your yard and willing and ready to deal with any consequences that may come than to place blame on something that might not even be related.
Eh. Doesn’t bother me, pretty much for the reasons Dave and CR explained. On the other hand, it’s one more tool in an info infrastructure I don’t think we quite understand, yet. In any event, I don’t think I’ve ever really found much use for it.
There’s no privacy to violate. Your front yard is visible from a public street, there is no expectation of privacy there. Anyone walking by can look at it. It’s only a privacy issue if they look into your house through a window. That’s someplace you expect to have some privacy.
I find it helpful if I’m going someplace new because I can look at the building where I’m going, rather than just looking for a house number.
Can’t wait to see the “interesting” Google Street View finds that will surface with all this new data online. Check out this bloggers huge list of “interesting” Google Street View sightings:
http://streetviewgallery.corank.com
I think that we shouldn’t be so quickly dismissive of privacy concerns, though. There’s clearly no legal issue, but I think we *do* have some sort of societal expectation at work, here. Not necessarily one that should work to restrict things like Google street view, but one that ought be taken into account when discussing these things.
I have been to Virginia Beach, but I don’t recall Norfolk at all. So, I just had to zoom and then it was kind of random because I don’t know where the hot spots in Norfolk are.
Personally, I think it is awesome. You know some times you are getting directions and it help to have visual cue to know exactly where you are going. So, I think this will be very useful.
They also have parts of Houston mapped. What I find very interesting is that with the exception of the Villages, the other wealthy areas of the city are not on Street View. So, River Oaks (where Ken Lay and company had their houses), Bellaire, and West University are not viewable. It’s interesting because it appears they haven’t mapped the city fully, but that they did the West side first. And all three wealthy neighborhoods are West of downtown Houston. Interesting, right?
Would you prefer only the government have this ability?
as opposed to any stalker with a grudge?
no, it is not inevitable, the people who stand to make a profit from all this would like us to to think so
oops, forgot to close my tags
Fixed 😉
I think it’s kinda cool but I also think it’s kinda scary.
But Alice, wouldn’t any stalker with a grudge be able to just roll by your place already?
Maybe it just lowers the bar for lazy stalkers? Dunno.
Our privacy expectations are quickly changing, and I think you’re right that those who stand to make a buck are going to push the “There is no privacy, get over it!” line as they throw these tools in place before we’ve even had a chance to discuss it. At the same time, some things that might have struck us as creepy before probably don’t now. If I were arguing online with some random person in 1997 about things, and they could bring up where I’d worked, lived over the years, and gone to school, I’d have been seriously freaked. Now? Eh.
This and other thoughts on the matter will one day be put forth in a post entitled The Unified Life. I’ve only been working on it a few years, though . . . 🙂
What MB said.
Good thing my yard was mowed when the Google truck went by.
I wonder if creating some right of control over your own information might be in order, here. As in folks can collect it, but you’re entitled to 1) know that it has been collected, and 2) have it deleted, if desired.