Unquestionably, Google has created an application that has raised the interest of many Canadians. Already, there have been concerns about the violation of privacy associated with this 360 degree photographic map. How can Google deal with the legal issues and privacy concerns that are brewing up as a result of this controversial innovation? Google has made several of changes in response to these concerns, but honestly, I’m sure we’re all doubtful as to how much improvement these slight alterations can provide. However, with all the negatives involved in the introduction of a new invention come the many benefits; this invention will undeniably bring us much convenience in the future.
To be perfectly honest, I’ve been spending the past half hour or so fooling around with this new application. In just that amount of time, I’ve already searched through my own address, places I might be found on a daily basis and most of my friends’ addresses as well (Sorry, guys). This application is truly the easiest thing to use. No complications, no confusing steps, nothing that would make it too difficult for even a three year old to use; it’s the same thing as the other features of Google Maps with the sole exception that the landmarks serve as much better visuals to direct someone from one place to another than the typical lines and symbols. Moreover, it’s fun. I don’t mean that in the sense that I rush home from school all giddy and excited that I can search up all the addresses of my classmates ... no, that’d be rather frightening, actually. What I mean is that people will want to initially browse around the maps looking for possible pictures of themselves or maybe see how their house might look from the eyes of a stranger. The novelty and freshness of it is definitely what attracted me to the site, and aside from all the privacy concerns, I was actually really impressed and fascinated with the map of photographs Google had compiled.
However, there are undoubtedly many concerns regarding the privacy and security of the public. With regards to social networking sites like Facebook, people generally don’t like having pictures of themselves uploaded onto the internet without their consent, let alone an entire composition of them. Google has taken images of people without even notifying them, and I don’t know about you, but I would definitely hate to stumble upon a picture of myself on Google Maps. Recently, Google has been attempting to address the privacy concerns of the public by blurring out all faces and license plates. One, there are obviously some glitches in Google because not all of the pictures have been blurred out. Second, they’ve reacted too slowly; many of the most embarrassing pictures have already been pointed out before Google stepped in. If you type in “Embarrassing Street Views” into the Google search engine, hundreds of sites with a list of the ‘worst photos’ will show up. I even came across this photo of a man picking his nose openly on a bench. His face is so clear and recognizable in this picture that I wonder how he can have the courage to even step out on to the streets. Society has definitely been evolving through time – from television celebrities to YouTube celebrities … and now Google Street View celebrities, too! With the invention of all these internet applications, it’s undeniable that we’re gradually losing more and more of our privacy and personal space.
Although I realize that many privacy issues are involved with this invention, I can’t say that I really oppose of it. Yes, it’s disconcerting that all this technology is giving us less privacy than we want, but at the same time, we have to realize that this is the price of our convenience. We want to keep the Google Street View application because it provides easy and recognizable directions to our destinations, but at the same time, we don’t want them to violate our privacy. The truth is, there are advantages and disadvantages that come with every new invention, and unfortunately, the loss of privacy is just going to have to be an accepted fact that comes hand in hand with the convenience of the application.
