GOOGLE MAPS -- An Invasion Of Privacy

(From Time.com -- By S. James Snyder)

Is that man breaking into an apartment building?

Does that tollbooth operator realize she's being photographed?

And isn't it illegal to have cameras in New York's Brooklyn Battery tunnel?

Such questions have been raging online in recent weeks, as GOOGLE'S new STREET VIEW has sent techies scrambling to browse through the miles and miles of street-level photos now available through GOOGLE MAPS.

But while some blogs have made something of a joke out of the many humorous (a man apparently caught mid-sneeze), bizarre (the ghost of E.T.?) and lewd (a woman's underwear poking out of her low-riding jeans) images captured by the web giant, privacy concerns have led many watchdog groups to quickly retort that STREET VIEW is no laughing matter.

"There is a serious tension here, between the concepts of free speech, and open information, and the idea of privacy," says KEVIN BANKSTON, staff attorney with the ELECTRONIC FRONTIER FOUNDATION."

"There's definitely a privacy concern that an unmarked GOOGLE camera van can, and in fact has, captured images of people, whether in the street or in their homes, in a manner that could be embarrassing or even dangerous to them."

He adds, "We don't think what GOOGLE'S done here is necessarily illegal, though a few images may cross the line and may create liability. It's more that they've done something that's really irresponsible and rude to people."

Google Maps -- An Invasion Of Privacy

Jay Fiedler, thanks for the post.