14 DAY TRIAL // Google Street View can be seen as a great product which enables people to view the world in ways it simply hasn't been possible before. Or it can be seen as a great Google conspiracy to, well, take over the world or whatever it is that evil corporate super-powers try to do these days, besides creating brain-eating zombie super mutants. Luckily, tin-foil hats aren't the latest fashion accessory and common sense prevails, so most people aren't actually that worried about Street View invading their privacy .
This may change soon, though, as one radical group from Germany which goes by the name Free Art & Technology (FAT) has put in motion plans to expose Street View for what it really is, an evil tool whose true purpose can only be guessed but which, presumably, is not to provide an useful service and make Google some money in the process, as the company would have you believe.
The FAT Lab has managed to get a hold of cold hard evidence of the wrong-doing by using the most unlikely of tools, a GPS and Google Maps. Seizing a moment when the Google crew put its guard down, the brave souls at FAT Labs attached a GPS locator to the Street View car. 'Ha! Ha! The joke's on you Google, how do you like being watched', the FAT Labs crack guerrilla team might have mused at the time. UPDATE: Or not! Read below.
Even now, you can see the villainy yourself on the map the group has set up. It clearly shows the Google Street View car driving around Berlin, presumably taking photos. How very shrewd of Google to be doing precisely what anyone expected it to be doing. How very shrewd indeed. For a few hours on Sunday, people could see in real time what the Street View car was up to, though, it seems Google may have gotten wise about the plan as the GPS position reported by the device hasn't changed since yesterday afternoon.
Its efforts may have been thwarted for now, but FAT Labs has issued a rallying cry urging like-minded individuals to join the fight. "Come help us find and tell your friends about the evils being committed by Google's streetviews car and crew," the site tracking the Street View car reads. What those evils may be, one can only imagine. Now, to be fair, the FAT team sure has a developed sense of irony. For one, it's turning the table on Google by 'invading' its privacy for a change. But the second bit is even better, FAT is fighting Google's "evils" using the company's very own tools, Google Maps to be precise.
Alas, the group's efforts may not be in vain, it looks like German officials simply aren't taking it anymore and may pursue legal actions against the company even if it means changing the law to do it. Deutsche Welle reports that Consumer Protection Minister Ilse Aigner is weighing in all options to stop Google from publishing the photos it has taken in the country for Street View. And if what Google is doing isn't illegal yet, she will ensure that the law is changed. This comes after Google has already made several concessions to German officials by agreeing not to publish any photo of a house or property at the request of its owner among other things, concessions to which the authorities agreed at the time. [via The Guardian]
UPDATE: Wouldn't you know it? Turns out, Google isn't even shooting for Street View this time of year and the artist-prankster group was true to its name. Here's what Google told The Guardian: "Just saw your piece on the GPS Street View car in Germany and wanted to let you know it was a hoax :-) . Free Art and Technology (F.A.T.) Lab is an art organization which recently used a fake Street View car as an art project in Berlin and claimed to have put a GPS tracking device on in to track its route. This car was not an official Google car, as we are currently not driving through Germany as there are not optimal weather and light conditions at this time of year. As soon as we'll restart driving you can find the driving schedule at http://www.google.de/streetview."
