March 21, 2009 by Matt Thomas
Google releases some application or other pretty much every week but one in particular was always going to cause more of a stir. Google Street View was released this week to a rapturous reception from the technology community. The reaction from some minority sections of the media however, has been decidedly cool, complaining about invasion of privacy, with some even going so far as to accuse Street View of being a burglars app, allowing potential robbers to ‘case’ people’s houses before breaking in. So do any of these claims have any actual basis?
Well, in a word, no. Let’s deal with the invasion of privacy thing first. It isn’t, not really anyway, the important thing to remember is that all that is shown is the front of a house, a car, etc. Up until now there’s been nothing stopping anyone who wants to going to see whoever’s house they like provided they don’t make a nuisance of themselves, this is only a way of doing so without getting on the bus.
There is, I suppose, an issue with the fact that I could virtually cruise round celebrities’ houses noting down their car license plates etc. However, to be honest, if I was any kind of stalker/paparazzo I’d be able to get my hands on this information any number of ways.
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