[LINK] Here come the Google vans...

[Richard Chirgwin]

We knew it was coming, but I still find it a bummer:
http://www.smh.com.au/news/technology/google-to-get-up-close-and-personal/2008/04/09/1207420485894.html

> HIGHLY detailed panoramic street-level photos of much of Australia 
> will soon be published by Google, but the executive in charge of the 
> project is making no assurances that private homes, faces and number 
> plates will be obscured.
>
I've always found Google's "because we can" attitude offensive, but at 
least this item of reporting breaks the media's "Google rule", which in 
general is to give Google as soft a ride as possible. Still, there's no 
way to let this pass:

> when it came to protecting people's privacy Google was at the mercy of 
> the "flaws of the real world and human error".
Que? Why would a journalist let Google get away with this cop-out? 
"We're going to do this thing, but if it goes wrong, don't blame us."

I suppose I should be relieved that nobody was quoted in the story with 
the totalitarian sophistry of "nothing to hide, nothing to fear" ...

Richard Chirgwin