Angry villagers run Google Street View out of town - Google

Angry villagers run Google Street View out of town
5:36PM, Thursday 2nd April 2009

A Google Street View car has been chased out of a
Buckinghamshire village by angry residents.
The car was taking photographs of Broughton in
Buckinghamshire for Google's Street View service
when it was spotted by Paul Jacobs - a local
resident.

He warned the car not to enter the village then
roused his neighbours, who surrounded the vehicle
until the driver performed a U-turn and left.

Jacobs claims residents were worried that the
photographs were an invasion of their privacy and
would attract burglars.

"My immediate reaction was anger; how dare anyone
take a photograph of my home without my consent?"
He tells The Times. "This is an affluent area.
We've already had three burglaries locally in the
past six weeks. If our houses are plastered all
over Google it's an invitation for more criminals
to strike. I was determined to make a stand, so I
called the police."

The Street View service provides street-level
photography of major cities, allowing you to take
virtual tours around towns.

It was only launched in the UK last month, but
has already met with controversy. Privacy
International has written to the Information
Commissioner's Office requesting the service be
shut down after dozens of images were pulled
following complaints.

In a statement Google says it is aware of the
incident, but believes its existing privacy
controls are suitable. "We know that some people
are uncomfortable with images of their houses or
cars being included in the product, which is why
we provide an easy way to request removal of
imagery. Most imagery requests are processed
within hours."


http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/250698/angry-villagers-run-google-out-of-town.html

--