Since the internet has emerged, “privacy” has been redefined. Online privacy is very debatable. While some people share immense amounts of information about themselves on the internet, others are frightened to even put their full name on a profile. With new technologies and programs surfacing on the internet, it was only a matter of time before this issue became a dilemma. An example of this was recently seen regarding Google’s Street View. Street View is a technology that provides panoramic still images of buildings, streets, houses, etc. Street View is a useful and fascinating tool that is available in many countries, including the United States, Mexico, Canada, Australia, Japan and South Africa (to name a few). Google is planning to add Germany to that list.
While Google is currently in the process of bringing Street View to Germany, several hundred thousand Germans are asking that their properties be removed from the site in fear that the technology will display too much information about people. Google has claimed that much of people’s fears are based off of misinformation (that the pictures are in real time), but with Germany being Google’s largest market in Europe, they determined that something had to be done about this uproar.
Although Google states that the pictures they use do not breach any privacy laws and they abide by the cultural norms of the country the pictures are taken in, in efforts to ease Germany’s privacy concerns and abide by their privacy norms, Google, for the first time, allowed users the chance to request that their residence not be on the site before the site was even published. Rather than showing someone’s home, the users of Street View will now see a blurred image that serves no purpose to them.
Of course, cultural norms differ around the world and traditionally, Germany holds their privacy in higher admiration than we do. It also does not help that Google worsened the concerns when they announced that they accidently collected information about citizens over Wi-Fi connections, causing the Germans to further worry and create a greater commotion.
However, are the Germans overreacting or should we all be concerned and take precautions over what goes public on the internet? While I do understand that Germany has stronger privacy protections than us, I believe that their actions are slightly uncalled for. If it was something to be alarmed over, then I think we would be seeing more people (not just in Germany) requesting to have their house removed from Street View. But then, it could also be a possibility that this is not occurring because many of us are not informed that this is an option.
While Street View can more likely help us than hurt us, I suppose I can see how there can be some potential problems that may arise with it. Street View shows people’s homes. An individual’s home can usually show someone’s financial status or what kind of neighborhood they live in. This could easily create targets for robberies and theft. Google also occasionally overlooks a license plate or a person’s face, leaving it unblurred an available to everyone who comes across that street.
So, what is the significance of the Germans actions? It is bound to have an effect on the use of Street View. Will it cause so many people to “jump on the bandwagon” and take their home off of the internet, and therefore defeat the idea of Google’s practical technology? The internet has always been a place of vast information. If individuals are given the right to take away this information that should be public, then is it fair to say that now there is a lack of information available to us? I think that the internet will always be the favored source to find our facts and data, and the German’s reaction is just a bump along the way.
Many Germans Opt Out of Google's Street View
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