Google Street View as a Criminal Tool
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For years Google Street View has raised privacy concerns. The images of people and locations were put online without expressed permission. In some countries, there has been a debate as to whether Google was contravening the privacy laws of existing legislation.
Now, in Canada, there is concern that the Street View service may be used as a criminal tool:
“… Mates has been trained by the Ottawa police to do free security audits for people who request them. He checks locks, windows, doors and lighting, then offers tips on how to make the house more secure. He is also a member of an Ottawa neighbourhood watch group.
He thinks Google Street View makes things too easy for burglars to see whether the house has sliding windows, for example, which are less secure than other kinds.”
link: Google Street View may help thieves
With faces in the images, Google has attempted to appease privacy concerns by using face-blurring technology. It will be interesting to see how the “don’t-be-evil” company handles this security concern.
Catherine Forsythe
2 Comments
Chris Wallace
October 15th, 2009
at 2:44pm
Stupid. You can walk down the street to find a house with crappy windows.
Rob Glazebrook
October 15th, 2009
at 3:10pm
I personally think it’s a bit of a stretch to call the ability to see window types (as an example) on Google Street View a security concern. I mean, what’s to stop someone from driving down the exact same street in a car and seeing the exact same thing?
Now, privacy concerns regarding people’s faces I can see, and I give kudos to Google for acting on that one. But blurring windows to thwart the criminals who are willing to visit a house to break into it, but are too lazy to do their recon in person? That seems like an unlikely combination. :)