Forum Moderators: goodroi
"Arguing that technology has ensured that "complete privacy does not exist," Google contends that a Pennsylvania family has no legal grounds to sue the search giant for publishing photos of their home on its popular "Street View" mapping feature.Responding to an invasion of privacy lawsuit filed by Aaron and Christine Boring, Google has countered that the couple "live in a residential community in the twenty-first-century United States, where every step upon private property is not deemed by law to be an actionable trespass."
The source documents are located at The Smoking Gun [thesmokinggun.com...]
Question - If personal privacy does not exist according to Google, what do they intend to do with their data in the future?
[edited by: goodroi at 12:27 am (utc) on Aug. 1, 2008]
[edit reason] copyright [/edit]
New Report Shows Just How Much Personal Information is Available Through Google Street View; Google Says “Privacy Does Not Exist”...
In response to an invasion of privacy lawsuit from Aaron and Christine Boring in Pennsylvania, Google stated yesterday, “Today's satellite-image technology means that even in today's desert, complete privacy does not exist.” Google’s court filing noted that “every step upon private property is not deemed by law to be an actionable trespass.” The Boring’s lawsuit was prompted by a “Google vehicle—outfitted with a 360 degree panoramic camera on its roof—dr[iving] down a private road to take images of their Oakridge Lane home.” Google conceded that the photos were taken during a "brief entry upon their driveway."
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[edited by: goodroi at 12:34 am (utc) on Aug. 1, 2008]
[edit reason] copyright [/edit]
If personal privacy does not exist according to Google
It's not accurate to spin the discussion by starting it with a misquote. We get enough of that from the mainstream media. Google said that "complete privacy does not exist", and they're right. That was true long before Larry and Sergey invented PageRank, and truly, before they were even born.
I recently read a very telling observation from John Battele:
A major threat is not Google or DoubleClick, it's government or other entities gaining access to the data Google and DoubleClick have access to through legal or other methods. We'll need a few big dust-ups before we focus on this as a society.[imediaconnection.com...]
I couldn't agree more. Privacy, as many people conceive it, has been essentially a mythology for decades. We cannot put that particular genie back in the bottle. We can only wake up to the current reality as a society and work to make sure that legal protections are in place -- and right now the issue is not yet in clear focus. We need that focus before things go much further dwon the line.
[edited by: tedster at 12:59 pm (utc) on Aug. 2, 2008]
It's not accurate to spin the discussion by starting it with a misquote.
Please read the article before for laying down the criticism.
Verbatim Quote from the story:
"However, in Pennsylvania court documents released the same day, Google stated privacy does not exist."
Additionally, from the article...
"Google Evangelist Vint Cerf to the Washington Technology Alliances annual luncheon in May where he explained that nothing you do ever goes away, and nothing you do ever escapes notice... There isnt any privacy, get over it."
Question - If personal privacy does not exist according to Google, what do they intend to do with their data in the future?
I'd take that allegation with a grain of salt, and I think there's a massive difference between what anyone can see from the street, an airplane, or a hot-air balloon and privately-collected data.
