Google Street Driveway View
Google Street View is a cool Google Maps feature, but it would appear that one of the Street View driver/camera operators in the Pittsburgh, PA area needs to exercise a little more common sense when recording the lay of the land. The same might be said for some of the admins who actually publish the Street View imagery to the Google web farm mothership. The Smoking Gun references Aaron and Christine Boring's lawsuit filed against Google for invading their privacy via a Street View image of their home (Google calls the litigation "unfortunate" and says it has "no merit"). The search giant has since yanked the offending photo, but TSG points out that a neighboring home also got the Extremely Up Close And Personal Treatment courtesy of one of the camera-equipped Chevy Cobalts.
The latter property belongs to the McKee family. Theirs is the only home on Goldenbrook Lane, a gravel path that becomes a paved driveway marking where the McKee's private property begins. As you can see from the top photo, the transition is plainly obvious. The Street View car drove down the driveway, right to the family's garage, shooting all the way. As a result, anyone surfing Google Maps could take a virtual walk from the nearest cross-street, down the driveway, and up to the McKee's kids' trampoline. That's not cool, and for her part, Mrs. McKee described the idea of someone filming their home in this manner as being "a little creepy." Gee, ya think? Even if the photos were taken as a result of a driver misunderstanding (perhaps he didn't know he'd be dead-ended in a private residence's driveway), the intrusive images never should have been published. Who's vetting this stuff? The Smoking Gun has a full step-by-step gallery posted here.
[Source: The Smoking Gun, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Randy 1:19PM (4/07/2008)
That's invasion of privacy! Unless it's babysitters that you're keeping an eye on in your OWN home!
silentracer 1:05PM (4/07/2008)
I'm going to drive over there and jump of their trampoline.
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Justin 2:11PM (4/07/2008)
I was just thinking that. It isn't too far from me.
Montezuma 3:44PM (4/07/2008)
The whole article, the notion of confused driver going into someone's yard in his ridiculous Cobalt full with that weird camera and then maneuvering there while still taking confused shots made me laugh really hard :D
Granted, I've seen a lot of street shots taken in "what the heck were they doing there?" spots... There's one in a small town below the Alaska (Juneau), there are plenty of shots taken in back alleys, in forest roads in the middle of nowhere miles away from civilization...
I love Google Street View with all its occasional hilarity. One of the best inventions since the sliced bread.
tariq 4:52AM (4/08/2008)
"I'm going to drive over there and jump of their trampoline."
hahahahahahah!
dpb! 1:05PM (4/07/2008)
This is what I don't get. People freak out and now the pic is all over the web, which is a lot worse than it would have been!
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Mr. Oak 1:13PM (4/07/2008)
Not sure why somone thought this was a good Idea. Most certainly one that we could live without.
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Randy 1:17PM (4/07/2008)
A person's home is their private property! It's not private if there's a map of it on the net. It allows less-than-moral people to plot immoral, illegal and absurd acts remotely via wi-fi or anything. All you need is someone that's a serial ____(anything) to need an opportunity and this is certainly something that presents itself as an opportunity!
Imagine plotting a break-in, abduction, assault, robbery or anything else from the comfort of your stolen internet connection / wi-fi and laptop so you didn't need to leave a trace for recon work! Imagine?
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Disgruntled Goat 1:27PM (4/07/2008)
Wow, I have no idea what you're going on about here. You seriously think you're more susceptible to a break-in or assault because there's a picture of your house on the Internet? Newsflash: There's a picture of most places on the Internet. Maps too. Big whoop.
The General 1:31PM (4/07/2008)
You are insane. You're like those people who put their car on eBay and blur out the license plate. RIGHT. It's okay for MILLIONS of people to see your license plate on the road but god forbid they see it on the internet!
Disgruntled Goat 1:32PM (4/07/2008)
This is cool, I actually found my house too. The Father-in-laws car is parked out front and everything. Can I sue for $25,000? I could sure use the cash.
spencer 1:37PM (4/07/2008)
You must have never visited a county website before. They usually all have extensive search-able property records. Where I live they show your name, address, amount paid for the house, property taxes and a picture.
Mr. Oak 1:49PM (4/07/2008)
Hey ' Goat.. There is some precedence here. Remember the song " Jenny 867-5309"? well, everyone in every area code that had that number, had to have it changed.
http://www.snopes.com/music/songs/8675309.asp
Appearently there are enough kooks, whack jobs and jackasses out there that you should worry about crap like this.
BTW: you comment on the blurred license plate, is at best idiotic. On the street, most people don't even know their own license plate, so chances are, unless there is a reason to do so, they won't remember yours of the thousands that they see everyday. Post your license plate on the web, or even the neighborhood Wallmart, the whackos will be at your door, count on it.
R 1:52PM (4/07/2008)
Privacy? Where have you been? Privacy in America is disappearing thanks to good ol' government action.
Mr. Oak 1:58PM (4/07/2008)
You're right, thanks to Gerenalismo George and his band of 40 thieves.
You can change that come November '08 though.
Fernando 3:11PM (4/07/2008)
Mr. Oak,
Anything that can be viewed from public property (i.e. any street or sidewalk) can be photographed legally, with the exception of a few government installations. That means that if these pictures were taken from a public road then they are 100% legit. The problem arises if the public road ended and a private one began. From the way it's displayed in the map, it looks like Google thought the whole road was public. If it isn't then they made a mistake, but it's easy to see how they could've thought they were following the law (there are no signs stating "private property" or where the boundary lies).
Randy 4:47PM (4/07/2008)
Pardon me! I thought someone's property was their own!
I also thought since google profits from it, the owner would like to get a cut of the mapping of their driveway!
Oh and I also though that people had privacy ON THEIR PROPERTY!
Hey, since it's harmless, everyone that said that there is no privacy, it's stupid to blur your plate and their's no risk involved by having an exterior map of your house available. Do this! Post your plate, a picture of every side of your house, your political views, your prejudices, your social security number and your drivers license number. Don't forget your mother's maiden name!
Or you could just shut the hell up and speak of what you know! Does everyone opposing still think blurting out your social in public is smart? How about credit card fraud with your name on it! Hmmm! Come on. Post your info! Let's see if ANYONE on the entire internet would find a reason they'd like to take advantage of the resources you gave them!
Have balls! Do it!
spacegravity4me 12:27AM (4/08/2008)
Randy, I agree with you completely. You people can take your public access garbage and hang yourself with it. I already want nothing to do with people thinking they have the right to just walk all over me and my property, like they have a stake in it, much less with what you freaks are saying. Challenge me in real life with crap like that, I'll give you hell, and you'll regret it! Not being paranoid, but we'd all better lock our crap up and fight for as much privacy as we can get, before we let the gov. and others take it all away and one morning we wake up in V for vendetta. By the way, would it be ok for me to come to any of your houses with a video camera and practically walk of to your front door taping and snapping up everything, then posting it all on one of the most popular sites/programs on the net? No? Why not, I mean it's perfectly legal. You didn't have a private property sign up! I could see it from the road! Let me tell you something, any of you guys, or girls (I gotta be politically correct) come to my house doing that and I'm replacing one of your eyeballs with a rock. If you're gonna give away your privacy then leave me out of it, otherwise I'll hurt you in defense! You gonna go down, go down by yourselves and don't speak for me! EAT ME!!!
Fernando 8:07AM (4/08/2008)
Randy,
The fact still remains that ANYONE, including Osama bin Laden or Kim Jong Ill, can photograph your property SO LONG AS THEY'RE DOING IT FROM PUBLIC LAND/PROPERTY! It remains completely legal, regardless of your privacy scares. That's also one of the reasons why you are not allowed to have sex in your house if the blinds/curtains are open and it's visible from the street/sidewalk.
Randy 10:17AM (4/08/2008)
Thanks Space....
Fernando! The debate here isn't about a "street view" it's about someone pulling into your driveway! And I don't have privacy scares of my own! I do however care about Goliath, Free World Governments and anyone stepping on anyone!
The majority of this country is conforming! It's dangerous! I wish I had a dollar for every person that's willing to give up their freedoms, privacy and rights. Remember this! A horrible crime can start with a caress of the leg. The driveway photos being the leg. How much do you want to let slide before you stand up for yourself.
That's the point! Otherwise I apologize for my lashing out and name calling to everyone. That wasn't right of me! I just get passionate about freedom and people getting taken advantage of!
So I guess we must "Agree to disagree".