Search Engine Turns Into A Stickybeak
Sydney Morning Herald
Saturday November 24, 2007
PRIVACY activists are ringing alarm bells after Google unleashed a fleet of camera-equipped cars to photograph entire Australian cities for its online mapping site.
Those walking the streets in capital cities this summer are being advised to take special care of their appearance.The Google-branded cars with roof-mounted cameras have begun prowling the streets, taking detailed, panoramic street-level photos for a new map feature called street view.Once the photos go up next year, Google users will be able to explore the country at ground-level for the first time with little more than a computer and an internet connection.The project has raised the ire of privacy activists, but Google says it is finding ways to ensure individuals' faces and car number plates are not identifiable.David Vaile, executive director of the University of NSW Cyberspace Law and Policy Centre and vice-chairman of the Australian Privacy Foundation, questioned whether Google's promise was genuine and called on the company to conduct a "public privacy impact assessment".Street view was launched in the US in May and has expanded to 15 cities. But many of the original photographs - including a woman exposing her g-string, a man striding into an adult bookshop and another man apparently relieving himself on the footpath - were taken down due to privacy concerns. Street view has been a boon for retailers and tourism operators, who see it as a valuable source of free advertising.Google is also planning to launch the feature in Canada but, as with Australia, the company said it will try to conceal faces and number plates. The promise came after Canada's privacy commissioner, Jennifer Stoddart, said street view would breach Canadian privacy laws."The cars are currently in our capital cities and we hope to provide more information about further locations we will be driving in Australia," said Rob Shilkin, a Google spokesman. He added that photos would be uploaded to Google maps some time next year.He said street view would only feature images that anyone could see walking along a street, and stressed that Google was consulting experts and community groups to determine how best to safeguard privacy."We're focusing on finding ways to ensure that individuals' faces are not identifiable in pictures taken in Australia and that licence plate numbers are not identifiable in Australia."Mr Vaile asked Google to guarantee it would obscure faces and number plates, and accept legal liability under Australian law if someone's privacy was invaded."There's a question about their actual commitment when something goes wrong to accept liability in the Australian jurisdiction for all the consequences of what might happen, without quibbling and sort of relying on technicalities and loopholes."Google Maps recently surpassed Whereis.com.au as the most popular online mapping service in Australia. According to Nielsen NetRatings data for the quarter ending October 31, Google Maps had 2.984 million unique users, compared with 2.698 million for Whereis.
© 2007 Sydney Morning Herald
