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It has to do with German privacy laws. Germany is a big gap in the European streetview coverage, as only big cities are covered, contrary to neighboring countries (bar Austria).
Quote:
In Germany, though, that was not enough. So Google allowed Germans to request that it blur pictures of their homes, too. When Street View went online for Germany’s largest cities in 2010, the company said 3 percent of German households opted out.
It has to do with German privacy laws. Germany is a big gap in the European streetview coverage, as only big cities are covered, contrary to neighboring countries (bar Austria).
Location: God's Gift to Mankind for flying anything
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Interesting point of view.
We like our privacy, and are willing to share it with whomever passes by,
(very limited exposure actually -- half the time, I do not even notice *bill boards*)
but ...
Not with the whole world !
I wonder, why in German AND English ?
If you *work* there, you should have some understanding of German ...
I think that privacy law is quite stupid and so are the people that fall for that. Take the house in post #5, you can put the address in the google bar and it will take you right to their doorstep. Sure, you don't know what the house looks like, but you sure do know what the street and the neighborhood looks like and once checking everything on Google Street View and then on Google Earth, it should be a piece of cake to find the place in person. Then what?
In order for that law to work, they must not allow an address to be spotted on Google Street View and for that they need to find a way to block the address from even working in the search bar. And even then, it can only go so far because you can just type in the next door address number and it would take you there. lol
Yes, you can go and see the banner IN PERSON, but no matter how you turn and twist the search for that house (I took the pix from the bridge), you just can't see that banner on the Google map.
So it's not about blocking the address, it's about blocking an image they want to keep private (at least on the Internet).
Same with faces, cars license etc. Sure you can see them all in person, but they don't want you to search it online.
BTW: this is not an exact address of that building, but an approx area you can Google to see where the house is located.
irman: That building is standing left to Reuters Agency, right to ARD TV studio, and across the whole government area. Great spot to send a political message, thus in two languages.
It has to do with German privacy laws. Germany is a big gap in the European streetview coverage, as only big cities are covered, contrary to neighboring countries (bar Austria).
Quote:
In Germany, though, that was not enough. So Google allowed Germans to request that it blur pictures of their homes, too. When Street View went online for Germany’s largest cities in 2010, the company said 3 percent of German households opted out.
My understanding is that, in the case of apartments, if even just one family objects out of the many who live in a building, the whole building has to be blurred.
I don't really understand it; I don't care two hoots if somebody can see the building I live in using Google Maps. If the person looking is doing so out of idle curiosity, or merely to find out what the intersection on the corner looks like, so they can find their new dentist or what have you, then it's almost a certainty that they have no idea that I live here, or who I am. Or if it's somebody to whom I have volunteered my address, then, again, why should I care? Why should anyone? If you give your address to your doctor or the loyalty program at the grocery store or to an acquaintance--then they know your address. Get over it!! Even without GSV, it wouldn't be that hard to find out such things as the average household income in my neighborhood, or whether most people around here are homeowners or renters.
GSV in Germany is not just limited to commercial areas of a few big cities, they stopped it in its tracks years ago. So whatever is available is increasingly out of date as time goes on. I had the opportunity to live over there for a year in my student days, but haven't been able to go back since--and I don't expect I'll ever be able to do it in the future, given the perennially weak dollar. I wanted so much to take a virtual walk down the streets I trod as a student, and that's not ever going to happen now. I understand how their history makes Germans uneasy about GSV, and it is up to them, after all. But I still can't connect all the dots here. I'm bitterly disappointed by the whole thing.
I guess, here in the US we have a different view of privacy, and many don't even know what privacy means.
A short and easy definition could be that privacy is what people believe they have lost when they complain about their privacy being infringed.
So, yes - blurring will protect those peoples privacy. Keep in mind that just because they can't completely hide from a very small group of people (those walking/driving down their street) does not make it OK for millions of people to see it on the Internet.
Allowing less people to see it makes it more private, if not entirely private. And hey, if it makes THEM feel more comfortable, so be it.
And lastly - freedom is being able to say NO, even without a rational basis. I wonder what would you say if Google purchase those backscatter X-ray vans for even more intrusion? We already said YES to them on the airports.
That's how we are losing our rights here - one little step at the time...
BTW: blurry on Street View is not the same thing as absent on satellite or map view, and Google is not the only mapping service.
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