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2008/23: Is Google Street View a threat to privacy?
Introduction to the media issue
Video clip at right: A news item on the arrival of google "street view" in Australia. This country is the third - after the US and Japan - to be photographed by the "google car". If you cannot see this clip, it will be because YouTube is blocked by your network. To view the clip, access from home or from a public library, or from another network which allows YouTube clips.
What they said...
'Today's satellite image technology means that even in today's desert, complete privacy does not exist'
Google's response to a lawsuit brought against it by a US couple claiming Street View had invaded their privacy
'At Google, we take our users' privacy very seriously'
Google product manager Andrew Foster, on the Google Australia blog
The issue at a glance
Google Street View is a feature of Google Maps and Google Earth that provides 360ø panoramic street-level views and allows users to view parts of selected cities and their surrounding metropolitan areas at ground level.
When it was launched on May 25, 2007, only five American cities were included. It has since expanded to thousands of locations in the United States, France, Italy, Australia and Japan.
Google Street View was released in Australia on August 5, 2008.
Wherever Street View has been released privacy concerns have been raised. Google has made a number of modifications to the service in response to these concerns. However, the issue has not disappeared.
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