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(note: I live in Germany) This never made sense to me. Prior to Street View, at least two German companies did the same thing (photographing every street with

by Kliment 16y ago

(note: I live in Germany) This never made sense to me. Prior to Street View, at least two German companies did the same thing (photographing every street with essentially the same technology,and putting it online). Noone complained. Now that Google is doing it, it's suddenly a huge privacy nightmare. I just don't understand.

aj 16y ago
I think it is more to do with the reputation that Google is gaining and also the fact that they already have a /tremendous/ amounts of information about their users and it is another part of that information collection drive which can and will be connected to the rest and thus making it much more comprehensive.
- VMG 16y ago
  This, and irrational paranoia / german
Sujan 16y ago
Most of it is just misinformation. People think the images are realtime. They think you can move the camera to go to places and e.g. look into windows to see what your neighbour is doing right now. The other part is irrational fear. Fear that thieves will use 2 year old images to check out a house, fear that some potential employer won't hire them because you apartment complex looks shitty (Some Germans really like their house fronts - contrast that to the France that most don't care at all what it looks like from the outside, as ling as it's attractive from the inside). So yes, it's a German thing.
- houseabsolute 16y ago
  It always fascinates me that any given action by a business, when seen through various cultural lenses, may appear sinister which to me is of the most innocuous variety. Working for Google, these differences in perception affect my daily life with unfortunate frequency.
- coffeejunk 16y ago
  The problem is that it's a unhealthy mix of missinformation, summer slump politics and unreasonable fear, with a little dash of propaganda. One more thing: If a potential employer won't hire me, because the facade of the house i live in looks like a mess, I don't want to work for this employer. (The same thing is true for drunken Oktoberfest pictures on Facebook or whatnot.)
- addywaddy 16y ago
  Let's say you own a motorhome/caravan and it's kept on your drive. To determine whether you are away on holiday or not, all I need to do is drive by your house and compare what I see with what Street View shows. I can take a 2hr drive through suburbia and draw up a nice list of homes whose residents are unlikely to be in when I come by again in the evening.
  - Sujan 16y ago
    I take a pizza flyer, put it in front of your door. If it's still there next morning, I'm safe to go into your flat. No Google needed.
bartman 16y ago
Could you link to the companies doing that? I never heard of them, even though I'm from Germany.
- ugh 16y ago
  I only know http://sightwalk.de/ http://sightwalk.de/
- nodata 16y ago
  ^^^ here is your reason. Nobody knew about the other companies. Everyone knows about Google doing it.
- smcl 16y ago
  Das Telefonbuch have a system where you can look up someone's name in a town, and list their address and provide links to view satellite images of the street: http://www.dastelefonbuch.de/ http://www.dastelefonbuch.de/ If Germans were really more conscious of privacy then I suspect they'd be worried about this, but as previous posters have said it's more down to misinformation and exaggeration.
  - avar 16y ago
    Das Telefonbuch has aerial images, that's very different from street-level images on Google Street View.
    - evgen 16y ago
      Correct. Ariel images show you things that are not visible to a driver or pedestrian. Much bigger privacy risk if you actually thought about it for a second...
- Kliment 16y ago
  As mentioned below, Sightwalk is one, I forget the other one. I hadn't heard of the other one before the Street View mess either, so I'm not too surprised. But as far as I'm aware, Sightwalk made it very public that they were doing this, and did not get much criticism at the time. Their optout method is nearly identical to the one Google is currently offering.
Tichy 16y ago
While talking about this with other people (also in Germany), I also learned that the government does regular flyovers (at least in some cities) and also sells the images they create. Much better insights than just glimpses from the streets.
aw3c2 16y ago
politicians and media are hyping it.

by Kliment 16y ago

aj 16y ago

I think it is more to do with the reputation that Google is gaining and also the fact that they already have a /tremendous/ amounts of information about their users and it is another part of that information collection drive which can and will be connected to the rest and thus making it much more comprehensive.

VMG 16y ago
This, and irrational paranoia / german

Sujan 16y ago

Most of it is just misinformation. People think the images are realtime. They think you can move the camera to go to places and e.g. look into windows to see what your neighbour is doing right now. The other part is irrational fear. Fear that thieves will use 2 year old images to check out a house, fear that some potential employer won't hire them because you apartment complex looks shitty (Some Germans really like their house fronts - contrast that to the France that most don't care at all what it looks like from the outside, as ling as it's attractive from the inside). So yes, it's a German thing.

houseabsolute 16y ago
It always fascinates me that any given action by a business, when seen through various cultural lenses, may appear sinister which to me is of the most innocuous variety. Working for Google, these differences in perception affect my daily life with unfortunate frequency.
coffeejunk 16y ago
The problem is that it's a unhealthy mix of missinformation, summer slump politics and unreasonable fear, with a little dash of propaganda. One more thing: If a potential employer won't hire me, because the facade of the house i live in looks like a mess, I don't want to work for this employer. (The same thing is true for drunken Oktoberfest pictures on Facebook or whatnot.)
addywaddy 16y ago
Let's say you own a motorhome/caravan and it's kept on your drive. To determine whether you are away on holiday or not, all I need to do is drive by your house and compare what I see with what Street View shows. I can take a 2hr drive through suburbia and draw up a nice list of homes whose residents are unlikely to be in when I come by again in the evening.
- Sujan 16y ago
  I take a pizza flyer, put it in front of your door. If it's still there next morning, I'm safe to go into your flat. No Google needed.

bartman 16y ago

Could you link to the companies doing that? I never heard of them, even though I'm from Germany.

ugh 16y ago
I only know http://sightwalk.de/ http://sightwalk.de/
nodata 16y ago
^^^ here is your reason. Nobody knew about the other companies. Everyone knows about Google doing it.
smcl 16y ago
Das Telefonbuch have a system where you can look up someone's name in a town, and list their address and provide links to view satellite images of the street: http://www.dastelefonbuch.de/ http://www.dastelefonbuch.de/ If Germans were really more conscious of privacy then I suspect they'd be worried about this, but as previous posters have said it's more down to misinformation and exaggeration.
- avar 16y ago
  Das Telefonbuch has aerial images, that's very different from street-level images on Google Street View.
  - evgen 16y ago
    Correct. Ariel images show you things that are not visible to a driver or pedestrian. Much bigger privacy risk if you actually thought about it for a second...
Kliment 16y ago
As mentioned below, Sightwalk is one, I forget the other one. I hadn't heard of the other one before the Street View mess either, so I'm not too surprised. But as far as I'm aware, Sightwalk made it very public that they were doing this, and did not get much criticism at the time. Their optout method is nearly identical to the one Google is currently offering.

Tichy 16y ago

While talking about this with other people (also in Germany), I also learned that the government does regular flyovers (at least in some cities) and also sells the images they create. Much better insights than just glimpses from the streets.

aw3c2 16y ago

politicians and media are hyping it.