14 DAY TRIAL // The recently introduced Street View function for Google Maps starts causing privacy concerns as more and more users are claiming that the products are infringing their privacy. The best example is represented by an Oakland resident who posted a message on the Boing Boing blog sustaining that she managed to view her cat on Google Maps.
"The new Google Maps zoom feature zooms all the way into my living room window. See cat on cat perch. I'm all for mapping, but this feature literally gives me the shakes. I feel like I need to close all my curtains now. I'm going to look into whether it's possible for a person to have pictures of their home removed from Google Maps. Meanwhile, I'm happy to show bb readers the photo in the interest of illustrating creepy privacy violations. Heck, the whole world can see him anyway," Mary Kalin-Casey sustained in a post on Boing Boing.
As I said when Street View was released, the privacy concerns are almost obvious as the feature is available to show high resolution pictures straight from the streets. However, the Mountain View company tries to defend itself by mentioning that the pictures are quite the same with the things viewable from a street so it can't be called privacy infringement. "Street View only features imagery taken on public property. This imagery is no different from what any person can readily capture or see walking down the street," Google said according to Inside Bay Area.
At this time, the Google Maps service provides a simple way to allow users to send a request for a certain picture removal but the search giant sustained there were only a few complaints until now. However, it's quite clear that the technology evolves, some of the users being afraid that Google Maps might invade their privacy and publish even the books from their libraries.