The Sydney Morning Herald recently reported that Victorian councils have taken to using Google Earth and Google Street View to identify ‘illegal activity and breaches of local government laws’. The Yarra Council used the sites to issue 175 notices and 35 prosecutions ‘for illegal building’. And why shouldn’t they, when the images collected on the sites are available for anyone to view—stalkers, thieves, doorknockers, your mum! Perhaps because, as community representatives, they have a duty to respect people’s privacy.
In contrast, Tasmanian councils have disagreed with the use of Google Earth as a way to monitor communities. Adriana Taylor, Mayor of Glenorchy, said she ‘would not endorse the use of Google’s technology because it boarded on an invasion of privacy’. Spokesman for the Civil Liberties Council of Tasmania, Paul Storr, believes Google Earth is ‘another screw in the coffin— more surveillance and more intrusion into people’s privacy’.
Since its conception, Google Earth has received a lot of criticism but also wide acclaim. Being able to explore the earth through 3D imaging provides amazing potential to futher our understanding of geography and communities. For example, humanitraian organisations are increasingly using the application to raise awareness about global issues. Jeff Corbett, columnist for the Newcastle Herald claims that people who fear the technology are being paranoid. ‘The privacy nutters who emerge from hiding…have been shrieking…the fact that the world can see the front of their home has them close to hysteria…Are you one of these crackpots?’ But I wonder if the top ten naked people on Google Earth (listed on other Google sites) feel the same?
TimesOnline website lists some of the images taken from Street View, including people being arrested, urinating in public, pedestrians picking their noses and police attending a fatality. Homeowners, nose pickers and naked sunbathers are not the only victims. According to the inquirier.net, the Israeli government has accused Google of spying on military installations.
But what is actually considered privacy? Is Google invading it? And how can something as unrestricted as the internet be liable to privacy laws?
According to the Australian Privacy Charter, privacy is the protection of personal information that concerns your body, private space, communications and personal details (financial and medical). The Charter notes that privacy is currently being damaged by changes in technology, which could include global surveillance breaching privacy rights such as:
- The right to go about your lifes free from surveillance or fear of surveillance (being watched!)
- The right to ‘private space’ (where you conduct your personal life). This includes not only your home but also to some extent, your workplace as well as recreational and public places such as the park.
While the federal government acknowledges these concerns, Attorney General Philip Ruddock says Google Earth doesn’t ‘really add to information already in the public domain’. So it’s acceptable for Google to photograph a public space (a space not owned or considered private), as long as the images don’t reveal personal information. ‘The images are not presented in real time so do not provide an update of what is happening at a person’s home. Similarly the level of detail in the image does not allow a person to be individually identified’, says Ruddock.
Google has made it part of the Google Earth policy to blurr out faces and numbers that appear in the photos, however there are reports of exceptions slipping through. By using Google applications to monitor community behaviour, local governments might not be breaking any Australian Privacy Laws, but they are disrespecting people’s privacy nonetheless. Big brother is watching so keep your clothes on!
How I know this?
Google Sightseeing
http://googlesightseeing.com
Times online, ‘All-seeing Google Street View prompts privacy fears’
http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/
tech_and_web/article1870995.ece
ABC News ‘Google sued for invasion of privacy’
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/04/05/2208794.htm?section=justin
BBC News ‘Google faces 'Street View block'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7488524.stm
Sydney Morning Herald ‘Councils spy with Google eye’
http://www.smh.com.au/news/technology/biztech/councils-spy-with-google-eye/2008/09/24/1222217299785.html
Sydney Morning Herald ‘Google Street View told: keep off, private’
http://www.smh.com.au/news/technology/
google-street-view-told-keep-off-private/2008/08/07/1217702214157.htmlOSQZj3
URpWklTxahDfyOxc-Kw
The Newcastle Herald ‘Go ogle with Google’
http://theherald.com.au/blogs/jeff-corbett/go-ogle-with-google/1237131.aspx#
The Inquirer ‘Google accused of spying on Israel’
http://www.theinquirer.net/en/inquirer/news/2006/06/16/google-accused-of-spying-on-israel
Google Earth / Street View
http://maps.google.com.au/maps?hl=en&tab=wl
Youtube ‘The IT crowd, don’t google the question Moss’
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=uSnMJ5_H9zQ
The Australian Privacy Charter
http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/PLPR/1995/31.html
