Why the UK has issues with Google Street View

Google street view is an impressive new service rolled out by Google in 2006. Street view allows for the 3d exploration of areas throughout different regions around the world. With street view you can explore the regions from photos taken by the street view car. These images are taken by a series of cameras positioned in different angles in order to generate a panoramic view. The pictures are combined using smart imaging technology that combines hundreds of thousands of pictures together to generate an interactive view of the world.

Google street view is only available in areas that are accessible. There are multiple regions throughout the world that are still not available in Google street view, however the main western regions that are available include the USA and the UK.

The USA was the first location to have Google street view rolled out. Australia and New Zealand followed. The UK has just begun the roll out process although this has come to a halt until issues are cleared up with privacy. The UK has taken an abrupt interest, whilst at the same time, an incredible volume of dispute over privacy. The UK has been far more problematic then that of the USA for fears of privacy being evaded. Examples include people being photographed and included in Google search without permission, homes being shown and acts of people leaving strip clubs, bars and much more.

Google's street view car has also been stopped from entering UK villages such as Broughton. This is because of privacy concerns and issues of burglars/thieves using street view to find properties to target. As such, some people have gone as far as requesting images be removed, which can be done quickly without any question. You may notice some areas are replaced with a black void. This is the sign of a removed image.

Why the UK has issues with Google Street View

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People and their Privacy

Google has begun the process of blurring out peoples faces within street view. This process has slowed down the release of street view throughout the UK. Privacy is taken very seriously at Google, requests to remove pictures or properties are honored quickly. In the UK there has been 2 incidents of villagers preventing the Google car from accessing it to take photos. In other towns, over 2,000 requests were made to remove pictures of people because their faces were shown. Other requests include the removal of houses, although the requests are valid, they do not always make sense.

From many peoples perspective, Google street view poses a risk as thieves may use it to locate properties to target. However, this is a strong issue that is debated. From our point of view, thieves gain no benefit from using Google street view as no areas have been uncovered other then routes people could typically access on foot. Also, debates are open on the fact that a house that is blocked out may have something on offer which may actually attract more attention because of its removal.

However the situations arise, there will always be people that agree, and people that dispute their faces or homes being shown on Google street view. In today's technology based planet, Google is constantly leading the way for new innovations to enhance peoples browsing experiences from search results to geographical tools. Some still question Google's motive for being the leading search engine whilst providing mapping solutions for geographic related tools.

Google offer complete privacy, the only requirement is for the end user to request picture removal. Other than this, Google is now automatically blocking out peoples faces by blurring them, however this process is still underway.