How do you feel about Google Earth and Google Maps having a specific picture of your home for anyone in the world to see? What happens if they happen to drive by on an off week that you haven't mowed your lawn? How long with those images stay there?
For example, I was looking up an address for research on a potential business opportunity, and unfortunately, this was the case. The person's house was what seemed to be in a state of disrepair. It was not kept up and quite scary. Thank goodness my lawn was clean cut the day they drove through our neighborhood!! But what are the implications for Google? Are they putting innocent by-standers on the chopping block as they mosey on through your neighborhood? Have you checked out your lawn on Google Maps? Maybe you should. And what can we do to change the images if we aren't happy with those on the web? What if we don't want images of our homes on the internet anyway? What rights do we have?
I think they should at least be required to notify the home owners, renters, tenents, etc. prior to the "drive by-s" that result in permanent (?) images being available on the web.
Take a peek...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPgV6-gnQaE&feature=fvsr
2 comments:
Creepy video! Your point about whether or not Google mappers should notify residents before they come through is really interesting. It seems like it would be impossible to get everyone to agree to having their house on the Internet. I don't think it is against the law to post pictures from the street. Perhaps this will encourage people to keep their lawns nice and clean!
WOW! That video is kind of creepy! I am not sure how I feel about Google Maps or Earth. I have downloaded Google Earth but it honestly does not show as clear pictures as you would think, plus they are still framed pictures. The only reason I would have a problem with these programs is because if someone was stalking me then they just have another tool to do so, but since they are still framed pictures that are taken like once a few months, then it is not as creepy. I think it could be helpful in some ways to help people recognize their surroundings if they are traveling to an unfamiliar place.
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