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Villagers stage protest over Google Streetview
I wasn't overly surprised at seeing today's leading article on the BBC Technology page. Google's Streetview project has precipitated much debate on topics ranging from personal privacy to crime since its official launch two weeks ago. In this instance, residents of a small town in Buckinghamshire physically blocked the passage of a Google streetview car, insisting angrily that the invasion of their privacy was too much to bear.
I empathise, having felt a deep uneasiness at seeing my front garden two clicks into a Google search. We are all well aware of increased surveillance and presence of cameras within city centres, but for me this goes a bit too far.
There are benefits to the service though, that I shall no doubt take advantage of. It will make visits to unknown destinations much easier for a start, as you will literally be able to trace a virtual journey from your start point to destination.
The biggest question I have is what the real purpose of Streetview is. How do Google propose to monetise this new feature? I'm guessing a merge between Google Adwords and Local Business Centre (once they sort through their algorithm problems) will allow businesses to advertise their products and services from a virtual shop front, but surely this has already been done more effectively by Second Life?
With Microsoft's plans to launch a rival service later this year on beta, my head shakes with Luddite pensiveness. This new technology could either take off and thrive in a social networking fashion, or wither away under a backlash of suspicion. I'm not entirely convinced either way but will be interested to see what the general consensus will be once the launch hype has died down and people start experimenting with both Streetview and GeoSynth.
Lisa
Created on Friday April 03 2009 01:53 PM
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