Recently, Google added their Street View feature to their Google maps service for London. This means that you can look at actual photo panoramas for any part of the Streets covered by the service. Go have a look, it’s very interesting and I think, a really neat feature. Google have run all the images through software, which whilst not perfect, aims to blur faces and car licence plates etc. Now personally, living in one of the most surveillance heavy countries in the world, I don’t find this too much of a worry.
However, it seems to have whipped up a right frothy lather for some privacy campaigners. They say that our human rights are being trampled over and that privacy laws are being broken. So, being able to look at streets that just happen to have people in them, with blurred faces, is some kind of worry is it? What about if you go to a bookshop and pick up a London travel guide? What about all those pictures in there of streets milling with people with unblurred faces? Why is no-one kicking up a stink about those?
After all, do we really believe that a photographer who has taken a picture of Trafalgar Square has gotten everyone in the image to sign a release? And this is what worries me. The police and private security guards are already giving photographers a hard time, citing the prevention of terrorism act at us for photographing a pigeon on a lion’s head in Trafalgar Square. There is enough nannying going on already and I fear that the feeding frenzy whipped up by these people is not only ridiculously wide of the mark, but will cause further problems for photographers in this country.
If you take this to extremes, we would not be allowed to look up when walking about the streets in case we catch sight of another person’s face and violate their privacy and human rights. Aren’t things bad enough in this country at the moment without everyone having to walk around with their heads down, avoiding eye contact.
Perhaps we should all wear disguises when we go out, or to keep it cheap and affordable for everyone, wear paper bags over our heads.
Yes indeedy. Paranoia reigns everywhere it seems when it comes to the Privacy Act. Certainly true here in Canada too.
Although to give the security forces their due, they had that pigeon under surveillance for some time, as the late great Bill Hicks once said, the authorities heard it saying “Coup Coup” and deemed them to be revolutionaries bent on bringing down freedom and democracy!!
I’ve tried the paper bag thing, works well. People tend to avoid you though. I guess the dress and roller skates don’t go with paper bags.
Revolutionary pigeons! Who knew?
The paper bag thing is also very good for avoiding being dobbed in for staring at CCTV cameras… although maybe that’s not such good idea. Daily Mail readers would probably report you anyway – ‘There was this suspicious looking person lurking around the CCTV cameras – I fink they woz muzlim coz they were all covered up like’
I think we should go the other way and aim to be multiple google personalities – keep running ahead of the photography van and see how many times you can appear. Would it be a new reality show – can you spot Brian – in the bakery, on the street, by a bus stop, crossing the road, etc.
No – that would be you Dicky old boy! Always jumping into the limelight
I would be skulking behind the van with my hand in front of my paper bag, just in case something is showing 