Google Streetview Invades UK

Google’s Streetview launched yesterday here in the UK and as expected has caused controversy over privacy issues. The problem is that as usual Google has taken significant steps to protect privacy – but as usual it hasn’t gone quite far enough.

The main privacy worry over Streetview is the identification of individuals who’ve been photographed without their knowledge or consent. To deal with this Google have used software to recognise faces and blur them out. Which sounds good until you remember that as a race we are exceptionally good at recognising other people, especially faces.

Even blurred faces can trigger a memory of someone we know. When that’s combined with extra details such as clothing, gait, accessories and companions that recognition can become simple. If I saw one of my friends on Streetview I’m confident I’d recognise them despite the facial blurring.

The irritating thing is that a much better solution would have been so simple to implement. Don’t just blur the face, black it out completely. Then extend that blackout down by three head heights. The result would be less pretty pictures but much more secure privacy.

Does all this matter? After all Britons are some of the most spied upon people in the world with CCTV surveillance cameras everywhere. My response to that argument is that just because things are bad doesn’t mean we should let them get worse.

Google Streetview is a fantastic piece of technology with huge positive applications. If only Google would take that one little extra step to ensure personal anonymity. As it stands it looks like Google are paying lip service to privacy without letting it get in the way of a cool application.