As anyone considered how the bad people in life may use it? Terrorists, criminals, my ex.

Of course if we worried about them too much then we would never do anything.

Just a happy thought for the day.

Bill

To be honest, I don’t really care what country you’re in — if you’re not doing anything illegal or immoral, who really cares which camera catches you doing what in a public place?

If you want complete privacy, you need to be completely alone. You give up certains rights to, and areas of, privacy when you choose to become part of a society.

There certainly are valid reasons for privacy in some areas — and there are some areas where it may not be specifically needed but preferred (the balance in my chequing account, for example).

I think the very fact that most people approach from the direction of “my privacy” says a lot too.

But I better go now. My employer may have a hidden camera monitoring how much office time I’m spending replying to blogs — of all the nerve!

I’m not sure what’s making you think we don’t respect or care to understand other countries. Care to elaborate?

Jeffrey’s comment above did a good job to frame the philosophical questions at play here. Frankly, it’s something every country is wrestling with. It just happens to be more of a pressing issue for some here in the U.S. because, so far, it’s the only place the technology has launched.

Stories this blog was used in… Rutgers Player Vaughn Withdraws Imus Suit…

They have the right to smoke, especially because they are doing it on their own property. But the value of my condo and the quality of my living arrangement is lower because of their actions.

I’d like the government to legislate that one.

That’s the best endorsement for this application I’ve ever seen. Thank you for sharing that.

Personally, I don’t see any problem with it outside of places that already aren’t supposed to be photographed. At least in the U.S., if you’re in any public place, you can be photographed — and that’s a good thing for fans of freedom of the press.

I wonder how many others have found practical uses for Google Street View.

I can now identify exactly how far it is (never mind 0.3 miles – that is not relevant to me if there is a staircase I have to descend, or a river to swim through). I can now actually walk through it virtually and see if there are curbs, stairs, and exactly how close it is to my destination.

It has completely changed how I choose hotels when I travel and brought me piece of mind. Privacy… I’m sorry, you take a backseat on this one.