March 23, 2009 by Matt Thomas
Google’s PR machine has gone into overdrive to try and to pull the rug out from underneath the already shaky claims of the Street View naysayers. The search engine giant is making a big deal about its willingness to remove anyone from the online photographic map that wants to be. Apparently Google have so far cheerfully removed a man throwing up on the street outside a pub, a woman flashing her knickers as she gets out of a car and a gentleman entering a sex shop as well as several other images of people who simply didn’t want to be on camera.
The removal of these images without a fuss makes perfect sense for Google. Not only is it great PR, but the percentage of images removed is incredibly small and so doesn’t really affect the functionality of Street View. If you do happen across one of the black screens that signify a removed image, you can usually just toggle right or left to find an alternative view.
Essentially, this is all about stymieing the backlash to Street View, and making those people who were always going to have a problem with something like this look unreasonable into the bargain.
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