Google’s gallery of shame nets backlash
GOOGLE finally admitted yesterday that it has had “hundreds” of complaints about its Street View service and had to black out or remove many images.
The service, which gives internet users a 360-degree view of streets in 25 British towns and cities, and allows them to zoom in on buildings or people, was besieged on Friday.
Many viewers logged on to check if they had been unwittingly photographed in compromising circumstances.
Google has already been forced to remove a photo of a man leaving a sex shop in London’s Soho and one of another man being sick near a pub in Shoreditch, East London.
Both were said to be identifiable from their build and clothing. Critics have also complained that children’s faces were not blurred sufficiently.
A married father complained that a photograph of him made it appear as if he was about to kiss a male colleague.
Another man said an image made it look like he was being romantic with a woman when he was merely trying to make himself heard over lorry noise.
Critics also fear the service could be used by burglars who want to check out a location, or even by terrorists.
A spokeswoman for US internet giant Google admitted: “We have had hundreds of requests for removals, but this compares to tens of millions of images.
“We have seen a massive surge in traffic, loads of people from the US are looking at it. More people visited UK Street Map on Friday than ever before.”
One in every 250 internet visits in Britain on Friday was to Street View.
Simon Davies, of watchdog group Privacy International, said: “People are incensed.”
Dave Moore, 45, was pictured smoking a cigarette outside his office, right next to a “no smoking” sign.
“There I was, bold as brass, smoking,” said Dave, from Hornchurch, Essex.
“It’s definitely me because it’s my shirt and tie and it’s the way I sit. My wife thinks it’s hilarious.”
Anyone who wants to complain can do so by filling in a form on the site, which Google says it will process “within hours”.
The spokeswoman added: “Anyone can ask us to blur a face or licence plate more, or remove their home, their car or themselves if they want.”
The Information Commissioner’s Office said it will investigate complaints from anyone who is unhappy with Google’s response, but that it was satisfied there were “adequate safeguards”.
Scotland Yard is said to have given the scheme the green light. The images are not “live”, they were taken by camera cars roving the country last summer.
Pictures of many more UK towns are due to be added in the next few years.
Street View is already available in the US, France, Japan, Italy, Spain, Australia and New Zealand.
