Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Google Street View in Japan

(Image borrowed from Telegraph.co.uk)

Today in the Mainichi Daily News Online there is a short piece about Google Street View and the privacy issues it raises in Japan (Thanks, George, for the heads-up).

Link to News Navigator: What's all the fuss about Google Street View?

Here are a couple of other recent articles about the problems of Street View in Japan. See what interesting/embarrassing moments Street Views gathers...

Link to Group demands shutdown of Google Street View Japan at Japan Probe:
http://www.japanprobe.com/?p=7927


Link to Street View throws Japan for a loop at CNET:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10017303-2.html?tag=mncol;title

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Aww, you should've covered this back when all the good stuff still hadn't been removed. Or actually, no. There was no "good stuff": there were some rather boring images that were quickly removed. And then there were people who don't understand how the street view works getting fits, and a few vocal individuals claiming to speak on behalf of all Japan.

visual gonthros said...

Yes, I should have covered it then and I meant to. Just one of those things I didn't get to. But it is still timely as the Mainichi article is from this week and since it is related to my project on photographing in public in Japan. The question that remains about Street View in Japan is whether it is actually legal or not. Could an individual do such a project and get away with it? Academics, professionals and privacy advocates have all been looking into such issues.

Anonymous said...

Short answer: yes. See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-TTB22uIqw