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‘Street View’ sparks privacy, security concerns

Not all faces, licence plates blurred out in Whistler photos

Have you searched your home or business address yet on Google Street View? You might just be surprised by what you see.

While Canadians have been collecting bizarre and funny images from the online views of city streets since Google launched the application for 15 cities in Canada last week, others have been surprised by how close one can actually zoom in on a window or even view the backyard of a house.

For the folks at the B.C. Civil Liberties Association and at least one local activist, the seemingly nifty web tool raises some pretty big questions about privacy, security and just how pervasive Google is becoming in daily life.

“It brings the peeping Tom to a whole new level,” said Pina Belperio, local activist and writer. “I find that it is a huge invasion of privacy.”
Online street-level photos of Whistler have been on Belperio’s radar for more than six months. She wrote a blog entry in April on the launch of the Canpages “Street Scene” tool, which actually beat Google to providing online photos of the resort.

Though identifying features such as licence plates and faces are supposed to be blurred from the Canpages and Street View images to protect privacy, Belperio said the licence plate of her own car wasn’t blurred on Canpages. Searching various locations on Google’s Street View this week, she also came across un-blurred faces.

“It’s hardly perfect,” she said. “I would have thought they’d perfect that before they went live.”

In less than a week of Google Street View being available for Canadian cities, the B.C. Civil Liberties Association has already fielded one complaint from someone who found an un-blurred image of himself on the service, said Michael Vonn, policy director for the association.

“We already know it’s faulty,” she said of the algorithm developed to blur identifying features.

The practice of blurring helps with the privacy questions surrounding Google Street View, but Vonn said she’s not sure it’s the solution. Other identifying features such as rare vehicle models could allow people to deduce the actions of someone else.

“Even if (blurring technology) worked perfectly it wouldn’t solve the problem,” Vonn said.

There has been some dispute about whether Google Street View complies with Canada’s privacy laws. While it’s commendable that Google reps have worked with Canada’s Privacy Commissioner, personal information is still being collected, she said.

Google’s Privacy FAQ argues that the images are only taken in public locations and “is no different from what any person can readily capture or see walking down the street.” But Vonn argues that a picture of someone’s house could be used for nefarious purposes and could affect security.

“Is a picture of your house personal information? (It) could be,” she said.

Belperio said even something simple like toys in a driveway can provide information that kids live there. A person looking to break in can suss out the entrances.

Beyond privacy and security issues, both Belperio and Vonn question how much information Google is gathering through Street View and other services — and what they’re doing with that information.

“Maybe they have good intentions, but I think we’re giving too much power to a private corporation with our information,” Belperio said.

Street View represents two levels of surveillance, Vonn argued. Not only are human activities captured in the Street View photos, but those who are using the tool are also being tracked by Google, she said.

Google is the biggest consumer-behaviour tracking tool on the planet, Vonn said. While she acknowledges Street View and other Google tools provide benefits to some people, Vonn said it’s important not to forget the downsides.

To report a concern or request the removal of a photo from Google Street View, locate the image and click on the “Report a problem” link in the lower left corner.

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