Differing Street Views

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Google Street View has hit the pavements of Australia, and its arrival has caused more than a slight tremor. The revolutionary technology is the stuff CIA spy movies are made of - the "Find me the address of John Doe. Now pan... pan... ENHANCE!" type. 

Using a series of images snapped from a roaming Google van last year, Google Street View has effectively mapped the photographic landscape of Australia. By clicking almost anywhere on a map, you're able to see what it looks like at street level - and often in minute detail. 

For many people, therein lies the rub. Privacy lobbyists are condemning the technology, claiming that by allowing anyone anywhere access to detailed photographs of homes and businesses, Google have provided criminals with a virtual dodgy white van with which to cruise the streets. 

Google has responded, with Google spokesman Rob Shilkin saying that Street View "only contains images that are already visible from any public road", and that there is no information included in the software that identifies the owners of properties photographed. Further, all car number plates and faces snapped by Google’s cameras have been blurred in an effort to respect privacy. 

Google has previously been sued by a couple in the United States (with the too-easy surname Boring) for invasion of privacy, after their Street View van photographed their private residence. Indeed, Google are well known internationally for being lax when it comes to protecting individual privacy. 

 
 
One of the highlights of the furore in Australia has been a cheeky Whirlpool.net.au user, Caustic Soda, who posted that the software had busted him as a cheating cad:
 
"I parked my car in front of an ex's house when I was cheating on my gf at the time. My gf found out about this later on but I convinced her nothing was happening and i've never been going there. I've just found a pic [on Street View] of my ex's house with my car parked in front, if she sees this, she is going to KILL me!!"
 
For the moment, there is a lonely complaint button on the Google Street View pop-up where users can report “inappropriate images”.  Good luck Soda.

We here at Merge of course first did what all responsible internet users did – immediately looking up Kirribilli House to check whether we could see Janette Howard undressing through one of the windows. No dice.

 
Check out Google Street View.