How in the Tech

Reclaiming some privacy from Google Street View

By Adam Myers ⋅ April 30, 2010 ⋅ Tags: Google, Privacy

On the surface, Google Street View is just an amazing accomplish and quite remarkably, free. If you are not familiar with the service, Google has assembled a fleet of specially outfitted vehicles with 360 degree cameras affixed to their roofs; at which point they drive up and down the streets of cities and towns across the world snapping millions of photos in the process. The photographs are then stitched together to form a digital visual representation of the world. The technology is then integrated into Google Earth and Google Maps. If you are looking for that obscure coffee shop on the corner of Oak and Main, now you can visually see the store front. I think it’s pretty mind blowing all and all.

Privacy conscious people will be quick  to point out the draw backs to such a system. There are countless stories of people photographed doing such unsavory things as urinating in a back alley, or perhaps being snapped while walking out of a strip club – something that could prove problematic for some individuals. Others just aren’t comfortable with having their photograph out on the Internet, no matter how ordinary and innocent the shot ends up being. Google quickly realized this and has no automatically applied a blurring algorithm to people’s faces – not unlike what you would see on a late-night episode of Cops.

But what are your options if you feel Google has not gone far enough with their privacy techniques? View realize it’s actually possible to report these types of things and it’s directly accessible through the Google Street View web site.

At the lower-left portion of every image is a link that can be used to Report a problem.

Google will require some information about the problem, specifically if it is a privacy concern or inappropriate. A privacy concern can be anything from your face, to your house, or car.

Unfortunately, Google provides no information related to the time it will take to service your request. Furthermore, it’s no guarantee your request for removal will even be approved. Nevertheless, this is your only simple option at this point.