Google Streetview

[fitz]

heh.. yup, it's up! Wish my driveway wasn't such a mess! lol

[mrraulduke]

past my house on Garbage day .... they blurred out the Logo on the coke box i had out.

[fitz]

Respecting your privacy.. Don't want people to know whether you drink Pepsi or Coke, right?

[mrraulduke]

yeah, a bright red blurry box really leaves it to the imagination!

[Smokey©]

I have visited many canadian cities today on google-view and am surprised at the difference in what is blurred out where.

[nanaimoboy]

I am on the damn thing, so I was told by my sister. I went and had a look on google maps and sure enough, there I was with my wife. My wife and I were in our front yard working on our house when it came by. Her face is blocked out but mine is not. They also snapped a picture of both our cars. One with a license plate that can be seen.

I have never allowed my images to be put on the web. And here, without my knowledge or consent, google has done that for me and taken no steps to cover up my image. I went to google maps and filled out their complaint form (it's really easy to do). I put in two request to have the photos of me and my car taken down and one request to remove photos our home. After clicking the send button, I immediately got this robot response.

Hello,

According to our records, you recently submitted a report regarding an inappropriate image in Street View on Google Maps.

We're currently reviewing the material you reported to determine whether the image should be removed from the product.

We appreciate your assistance.

Sincerely,

The Google Maps Team

All this bloody work because Google wants to remain the world's leading search engine. I don't appreciate being involved in their grand scheme.

If anyone else is reading my rant, maybe go have a look on google maps http://maps.google.com/maps and see if your image or home or car was captured by the Google camera car. It has been all over Nanaimo and photographed most things. You can (apparently) have your images removed. If the don't remove the images I request they remove in very short order, then I will fax the google legal department with a copy of the emails they sent me and the complaint ticket number that was attached to them.

Here is a list of google contact addresses for anyone interested.

http://www.google.com/corporate/address.html

Anyway, I see on the web that Sir Paul McCartney requested and got Google to take down all the images of his home. I'm no Paul McCartney, rather I am just Joe Schmo living in Nanaimo. But I want the same and to have my requests honoured. We'll see how it goes!

And, Google sucks!

[nanaimoboy]

Sweet the Google street view is finally up.... It went by my house on a Saturday, cause both cars are home... And our Ford Dealership was having a Roundup!

It looks to me like they came by our house last August. I say this because we had scaffolding up at the time. So it looks like the Google car has been coming and going for a while now.

[Wyatt Earp]

There is nobody in my pictures yet both the truck and car plates are fogged out. I'm ok with this but I most certainly see your point and would fight tooth and nail to have that information deleted.

[nanaimoboy]

There is nobody in my pictures yet both the truck and car plates are fogged out. I'm ok with this but I most certainly see your point and would fight tooth and nail to have that information deleted.

I will keep checking back daily to see if Google has done anything about this. So far they have not. I suppose it will take them a week or so to take action on this. I can just imagine the thousands of complaints Google receives from people on a monthly basis concerning this type of thing.

Here's another thought. I wonder if the city of Nanaimo will use the Google street view to have a closer look at properties they suspect have done illegal renovations etc? We did our renos with all the required permits. But I know a lot of people who have not. I guess here lies another problem. Snoopy neighbours and officials can now look into your back yard by way of satellite because Google is showing that too.

[Wyatt Earp]

They could be honestly, I doubt it as the building department is alreay understaffed and over worked - ever tried to get a permit quickly?

Besides, as long as you build to the code and have a designer, architect or engineer sign off on the work (depending on what it is) there really isn't an issue except getting their money. I wouldn't worry about.

On the other hand if I did not do it to code and was trying to save money by not hiring pro's etc. then I'd be a little concerned.