Google’s plans in the UK could be referred to the Information Commissioner. Street View matches photos of locations to maps, including passers-by who were captured as the photograph was taken. Privacy International, a UK rights group, believes the technology breaks data protection laws. “In our view they need a person’s consent if they make use of a person’s face for commercial ends,” said Simon Davis of the group. Street View has already been launched in the US and includes photos of streets in major American cities. Photographing of areas in the UK, including London, is believed to have started this week. Some individuals in the US have complained about their images being used and Google has said it removed their presence on request.
The company has said it had begun to trial face blurring technology, using an algorithm that detects human faces in photographs. In the US it is legal to take photos of people on public streets. But Mr Davies believes that because Street View is being used for commercial ends anyone in the UK who appears in the photo needs to grant his or her consent.
Is this a joke? Isn’t this the country with the highest camera per person ratio in the world?
Quite stupid considering CCTV cameras blanket the area. Why would they care about static still images that will be months old by the time it’s online, vs LIVE video feeds that are actually INTENDED to spy on people?
What a Joke!
So I’m not allowed to go around taking pictures of buildings without being arrested
Google can’t take pictures without having it’s wrists slapped
But the Government can!
I hate living in this country
(can someone rescue me?)
Must maintain a government monopoly.
Why is the guy in the photo missing his head? Just photoshopped or what?
Hey supermoose37. I feel sorry for the people in your country. What with a camera on every street corner and all that surveillance practically in your toilets, er, loos, if any country deserves a right to be compared to George Orwell’s 1984, that is it. BTW was Orwell British? I’d like to say God Bless America, but with people like Bush we’ll probably end up worse.
Okay… So if government blatantly crushes privacy by literally watching and recording the public that’s okay but if a private entity performs does something that’s no where near as intrusive then GIVES IT TO THE PUBLIC FOR FREE that’s a bad thing? :/
Most of the CCTVs in the UK are actually installed and operated by private companies. The local city council & police may have a few CCTVs. But the vast majority are security cameras for bank ATMs, gas stations, shops, etc.
Google should just set up its own permanent CCTVs, maybe paying a few $$ rent to whoever owns the building they attach it to.
the only real difference between CCTV and Google street view is that later will be available to everyone around the world on the internet. I guess in this so-called “post 9-11 era” information like this can be used by terrorists to plot out new attacks. Where as CCTV is only used by (I assume) the local government.
Could also be due to the UK not wanting some American company to do something like this. Exactly who is complaining about this? the UK governments, private citizens, or who?
It sucks the big one. When the UK government says that it’s doing this to protect the privacy of the British public while still selling the electoral roll to big business, all I can say is crap.
The British Government is the nastiest nanny state this side of democracy where 1984 is becoming a stark reality.
I leave it to the British to express their views which they seem to be doing.
In any commercial or stock photography, recognizable individuals are required to sign a model consent form in order for their image to be used. It sounds like Privacy International is arguing that, since Google makes money off of Google Earth, the street view images constitute commercial photography. In which case they would be correct in asserting that model consent would have to be obtained from any people captured in a street view. Whether or not the street view images actually do constitute commercial photography, is something that will most likely end up being decided in court.
To me, what makes this laughable is that in the past few months the UK government has left national security documents on trains, lost CDROMs containing thousands of personal details, lost laptops containing personal information, and they are concerned with someones picture, taken in a public place, appearing on Google Street View. What next, ban Flickr because people other than the subject are visible in the background???
Street View is a good idea!!! I’d recommend you to look through another resource.
My favourite is Street View service on http://streetview.fizber.com/