WARNING !!!! Google Street View on PRIVATE PROPERTY in CALIFORNIA

[ureapwhatusow]

talk about fucked up


http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/07/26/2030247&from=rss



Google Caught On Private Property

Posted by timothy on Saturday July 26, @04:38PM
from the dude-that-is-so-not-cool dept.

Privacy Google
nathan halverson writes "Google recently launched Street View coverage in Sonoma and Mendocino counties — big pot growing counties. And while they hardly covered the area's biggest city, Santa Rosa, they canvassed many of the rural areas known for growing pot. I found at least one instance where they drove well onto private property, past a gate and no trespassing sign, and took photographs. I didn't spend a whole lot of time looking, but someone is likely to find some pot plants captured on Street View. That could cause big problems for residents. Because while growing a substantial amount of pot is legal in Mendocino and Sonoma County under state law, it's highly illegal under federal law and would be grounds for a federal raid."

 

[ureapwhatusow]

http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20080726/NEWS/807260303/1350&title=Smile__you_re_on_Google

video links are in the above article



Smile, you're on Google
Some residents cringe as Internet giant takes and posts photos of remote Sonoma County neighborhoods

By NATHAN HALVERSON
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

Published: Saturday, July 26, 2008 at 4:30 a.m.
Last Modified: Saturday, July 26, 2008 at 8:05 a.m.
By most measures, western Sonoma County is considered pretty remote.

Sunbathers near Stanford, as captured by GoogleView
GOOGLE HERE AND ABROAD
Follow the Tour: Google sent its cameras along the famed roads of the Tour de France, allowing people to virtually stand along the race route.
Global vision: Street View now covers more than 50 metro areas in the United States after launching in May 2007 in five cities, including San Francisco and New York. Coverage now ranges from cities across France to Yellowstone National Park.
Our roads: Northern California includes the largest swath of photographed rural roads in the world, according to Google.

Related Links:

* Viewing life in Sonoma County, street by street

Driving down its ribbon-thin roads, rolling through the long shadows of tall redwoods, people gain a certain sense of seclusion and privacy.

But some are now wondering if Google killed that feeling -- at least in part -- after it posted to the Web in June thousands of detailed photos taken along county roads.

"I think 'creepy' is a good word," said Mike Ming, whose rural home outside Occidental was photographed in detail.

In fact, Google entered private property in at least one instance to take photos of people's homes.

Google's new online map tool, Street View, lets anyone with an Internet connection view panoramic photos taken on some of Sonoma County's most isolated roads and look at some of its most secluded homes.

The 360-degree photos were taken all across Sonoma County using a high-tech camera mounted atop a car. Google captured an array of images, from schools and homes to tree forts and malls. It covered most of the roads from eastern Sonoma County to the Pacific Ocean -- and nearly all the cities in between.

Last year, Google took heat from privacy advocates when it launched Street View in San Francisco, New York, Denver, Las Vegas and Miami. Critics pointed to the lack of privacy afforded a man seen standing in front of a San Francisco strip club or a couple of young women captured sunbathing near the Stanford campus.

Google satisfied some critics when it recently deployed a technology that automatically blurs faces and license plates. But its latest venture into more-rural areas created a new controversy.

Up a single-lane road outside Freestone, Google went past a gate with a "no trespassing" sign and captured images on private property. Several residences can be seen on the property, including an up-close shot of someone's living room window.

"I like my privacy, and this feels like an invasion of that," said Janet Tobin, who lives on the property. "My friends already know how to get here. I don't need the whole world coming to my door."

In April, a Pittsburgh couple sued Google for driving up their private road and taking detailed photos of their home. While Google took the photos down, the images still are available online because other Web sites copied and retained the shots.

Street View, which is free to use, now covers numerous small cities and enclaves in the North Coast, from Petaluma and Napa all the way north to Ukiah. Google also has expanded into other rural parts of the country, such as southeastern Wisconsin. But its coverage of rural Northern California, which was primarily launched in June, appears to be its most comprehensive.

Unlike satellite images, which have been available for years on sites run by Google, Microsoft and even the city of Santa Rosa, these new images are taken from the ground.

Sometime within the last year -- Google declined to say when -- the Internet king sent its roving car-mounted cameras to canvass Sonoma County, capturing images of people standing in their yards, taking out their dogs or just otherwise enjoying the seclusion of small communities ranging from Kenwood to Camp Meeker and out to Fort Ross.

Images can be viewed by going to www.google.com, clicking on 'Maps,' clicking on 'Street View,' and then clicking on any road that is highlighted in blue.

Strangely, much of Santa Rosa has not been photographed, while nearly every stretch of road in Camp Meeker and Monte Rio has.

Other cities are thoroughly photographed, including Petaluma, Sonoma, Rohnert Park, Windsor, Guerneville, Occidental, Cazadero and Timber Cove.

Google spokeswoman Elaine Filadelfo declined to say why some areas were photographed and others left uncovered. But she said the company is branching out well beyond big cities.

"We're not just trying to do the major metro areas; we're trying to get these small towns too," Filadelfo said.

As for photographing on private property, she said the company tries to avoid it.

"It is our policy to only gather photos on public roads," she said. "We'll certainly take down images taken on private property."

But once the images are online, it can become impossible for Google to stop their reproduction on other Web sites.

"This is not the first time this incidence has come up," said Kurt Opsahl, senior staff attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, an Internet watchdog group.

But so far it's been rare, he said. If Google has only trespassed twice, then it's not a huge concern, Opsahl said.

"But if this is only the tip of the iceberg, then with each additional incident it becomes more troubling," he said.

To be sure, the technology is incredibly cool. Tourists and residents can use Street View to find and visualize some of the county's more remote wineries and other attractions. But it is also a voyeur's dream.

"There are always going to be some concerns with these large-scale mapping projects," said Rebecca Jeschke, a spokeswoman for the Electronic Frontier Foundation. "It does show the tension between the cool technology and the privacy concerns."

 

[HarryNugz]

How ironic your post is. I was just showing my helper a popular housing site upgraded its photos to show the googled front of my house with his car. Then i just now saw your post of the google street view. Got me thinking that if you give out your address to someone for say seeds that if you ever cross them they can search your house and rip your crop if you've posted grow reports.

 

[sirgrassalot]

I see my boat.

 

[PhenoMenal]

I just spent the weekend doing up my front garden, making it look respectable for when the time comes for a Google van to drive by. Now i've just gotta wait ...

 

[pSi007]

many people that work for Google are also employed as undercover Federal officers.

on a side note, pressing charges is the best thing to do.

 

[Snowboardergnu]

man, that's messed up. Invasion of privacy at it's best, eh?

 

[DIGITALHIPPY]

many people that work for Google are also employed as undercover Federal officers.

on a side note, pressing charges is the best thing to do.

any sugestions on HOW? or are you just going to talk that shit?
id like to get mine off, they seam to be ok telling me to "eat shit", proverbialy of course...

 

[Deft]

I'm mapped, lucky for me I didn't have a bag of bud coming in from the car or a weird glow through the windows.

This is creepy, if I see a Google mapping van what should I do? Block their view?

 

[DogBoy]

W 62nd St Englewood has a raid in progress.

 

[RudolfTheRed]

lol, these assholes start sneaking onto property here in the south and i swear to you someone will shoot them. and i bet they do it enough in California some pissed off grower might confront them with a gun too.

 

[Rifman]

okok these feds let me kill their power right now, psycologically!!

fucking feds lol gimme a break.

so why do they feel the need to survailance you if they weren't afraid of you? let me ask you that!

next obvious question would be what the hell are they afraid of? well they are afraid that you might become independant! that they cannot reap from your fear anymore. thats what they sow, fear, then they harvest from it!

ITS THE FUCKING PERPETUAL GAME OF CHICKEN!!

so they drop these bombs on you from time to time, we are watching you, we have this power over you. we have a huge apparatus and we are everywhere.

LOL

fuck man first of all, these morons running around knocking doors they are brainwashed.. OK?!, so dont fear them, you can play them easily, just dont play into the grower stereotypes when you meet them. they are morons! they know nothing, they dont think, they just look for certain signs they are trained to look for. they are like computers, just dont start that program, and you will be fine.

trust me on this, i play cops like a fiddle, whenever i run dope i dress up all preppy, shave and comb my hair so i look like a fucking churchboy. AND IT FUCKING WORKS! go figure!

man so what if they are watching you, you know they are, so they are only watching you watching them. and people are like monkeys, we all know that, when two monkeys are watching eachother they start impersonating eachother.

so we have one monkey impersonating the other monkey, both are afraid if the other one might do something NEW FOR A CHANGE!

live and let be is my life slogan, so if these lolheads want to intrude on my space, fine ill go take some other space! let them follow me, cus fuck if i care! im the leader, he is the dog!

everything is right out there in the open already, its a matter of you being honest to yourself, and realize that you have no guilt about this. and when you have no guilt, then you have justification, and fear is obsolete!

so they find 100 fields, and burn them, one plant alone can turn into millions! we can keep them busy for a while lol.

stay sain, stay true, stay safe

peace my brothers and sister

1<3

 

[the Rock]

google made me rich=i love google

 

[dfa]

take em to spyrock