Jul 10 2008

Street View Not Proceeding In The UK?

Category: In The Media — ChrisM @ 4:21 am

See this article for a more detailed explanation, but the short version is that Google’s Street View service will soon be available in Britain. The cars have already been out in some cities taking photos, however a small bump in the road has appeared, with objections to peoples’ faces being displayed without their express permission. Although this was not a problem in America, Canada and the UK have both stated that their laws do not allow for this sort of service; Google has offered to use automatic face-blurring technology, though this could lead to an overall degradation of all photos displayed. I use Google Earth quite a lot, and would have been interested in the way some towns would have looked, but I can also see why some people feel this is not a good thing to allow.

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One Response to “Street View Not Proceeding In The UK?”

  1. JohnK says:
    July 10th, 2008 4:51 pm

    The whole issue of photographing people in the street is now a major issue for those wishing to follow a career in candid Street photography. I was nearly arrested after an incident outside my previous address in Swansea. The location is hilly, and the roads very narrow. Each day during school opening and closing hours it used to be gridlocked with parked cars from residents – virtually abandoned cars from parents picking up their kids – and delivery lorries (trucks to our Trans-Atlantic brothers). From my own garden, which was six feet or more above the road, I attempted to photograph the chaos, taking care to only include the backs of any parents & children caught amid the traffic. Obviously one of the parents had reported my activity to the Head Teacher, who not only videoed me before approaching me, but also called the police. It took me some time to convince everyone that my intentions were honourable.

    I can understand why parents and schools are so sensitive, but the situation has now become ridiculous for genuine photographers, who are continually on the defensive in public situations. This is a gross over reaction to a relatively small number of paedophiles, and as a consequence the repercussions effect so many other people.

    At the time I was working with a Child Protection Team.

    If society had the courage to permanently remove child molesters from circulation, then (and only then) might we see some change in peoples’ attitudes.

    I would like to here what others might think