google2 Google’s Street View gets a go in UK The controversy had just been tipped in earlier about Google Street View, when it gets a green light to launch it in UK (after facing a bit of resistance from a privacy  group earlier and Google responding) as reported by Bobbie Johnson. Street View has faced quite a lot of opposition from privacy advocates arguing that it is an assault on ‘civil liberty’.

The service has been called an assistant to criminals, giving them a peek into the possible victims; doing all their homework on the Internet. However the Information Commissioner’s Office had a different say about the matter stating:

We are satisfied that Google is putting in place adequate safeguards to avoid any risk to the privacy or safety of individuals, including the blurring of vehicle registration marks and the faces of anyone included in Street View images. Although it is possible that in certain limited circumstances an image may allow identification of an individual, it is clear that Google are keen to capture images of streets and not individuals.

Alright that sounds pretty digestible; the very idea of having the concerned people (who don’t want their images online) having the privilege of getting their images pulled down. But does that mean all? Even the US military has complained about the photographs of its base in Texas.

Though recent commentators made sure I get the point straight that Google has rights to do all this, but think of it, the idea sounds an invasion and it will expand further, why is it a threat? Well, the amount of information it has readily available for those who can turn these ‘rights’ of Google to their use.

I personally think that the idea should be to make sure Google keeps its eyes open and well placed on streets instead of avoiding boards that read ‘private’ that can lead to quite a lot of controversies.