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One of the largest concerns about Google Street View, a concern echoed here now that the search giant continues to collect the photos they need to roll out a comprehensive street-level map of our city, is privacy. What if Google catches you with someone you don't want people to know you were with? What if Google catches you coming out of somewhere you don't want people to know you were inside? Or what if Google catches you in one of your lesser moments: throwing up at the side of the road, say, or, God forbid, appearing to break the law, your image preserved online for all eternity? Sure, faces and licence plates will get automatically blurred out, but that feature has proven a bit dodgy, and someone's face and licence plate aren't the only way to identify them.
So it is with some joy that we present to you a photo of one of Google's elusive but conspicuous Street View cars caught doing something it probably didn't want to get caught doing—gliding through a set of red lights at Adelaide and Yonge. Shot last Thursday by Torontoist reader (and Autoshare CEO) Kevin McLaughlin, the pictured sedan is just one car in Google's fleet currently being stalked all around town while those cars shoot our streets. With its brake lights on, the perpendicular traffic lights glowing green, and the pedestrians safely waiting to cross from the corners, the car seemingly didn't blow through the intersection as much as it confusedly wandered into it. Maybe it was lost!? We heard there's some kind of cool new mapping thing that'll help with that in the future.
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Person sees him/herself on streetview,
person contacts google to request it get taken down,
google should replace the shot.
The end.
At least that's how it should work.
Personally, I pray I'm caught on Google street view doing something horrible. I think every Torontonian who sees this car should immediately smash a window, punch a tourist or, at the very least, urinate. Google street view would be a billion times better for it.
"walking out of the Brass Rail at 2pm on a Wednesday"
Is there a civil hour for patronizing a strip club?
Durr, sorry. I just can't get a hold on this comment structure.
Johnson: Kudos, sir, kudos.
Privacy issues aside, if Google catches you cheating on your spouse, breaking the law or walking out of the Brass Rail at 2pm on a Wednesday: you're probably a piece of shit.
Google street view, the sketchy P.I. of a new generation!
"What if Google catches you with someone you don't want people to know you were with? What if Google catches you coming out of somewhere you don't want people to know you were inside? Or what if Google catches you in one of your lesser moments: throwing up at the side of the road, say, or, God forbid, appearing to break the law, your image preserved online for all eternity?"
Welcome to the information age! These should be the least of your worries regarding how sloppy people are with the details of their life. Chances are if your actualy recognized doing something out of the ordinary, people already would expect to see that kind of behavior from you. It's all about actions and consequences, nobody is responcible for you but yourself (unless you plan on just throwing your life away and have someone close to you constantly trying to 'save' you). Meh.
I'm fairly positive they had to stop to get a clear picture of the intersection. They are bound to piss someone off (behind them or to their sides) regardless.
I've seen people who aren't trying to provide a service to the world do far worse in intersections.
"What if Google catches you with someone you don't want people to know you were with? What if Google catches you coming out of somewhere you don't want people to know you were inside? Or what if Google catches you in one of your lesser moments: throwing up at the side of the road, say, or, God forbid, appearing to break the law, your image preserved online for all eternity?"
I have two options for you:
1. Don't do any of the above.
2. If you can't go with 1, do it by night when the street view cars are tucked up in bed.
In a world with flickr and twitpic I think Google is the least of our problems.