|
Google changes Street View
privacy policy
OUT-LAW.COM
Friday Aug 24, 2007
Google has changed its privacy policy on its Street View feature
to obscure faces and car number plates on request. Technology
news site CNET News.com reports that the company policy change
took place weeks ago but has only just come to light.
Street View is a Google product which consists of photographs
of streets in the US. The company has faced criticism because
people's faces, car number plates and even views into their houses
are visible in the photographs.
Marissa Mayer, Google vice president of search products and user
experience, said the company now removes faces or car number plates
on request.
"It's a good policy for users and also clarifies the intent
of the product," Mayer told News.com after a speech at a
search engine conference.
(Article continues below)
She said the change was made just days after the launch of Street
View in May but not announced.
Mayer said that when Google receives a complaint about a face
or number plate it takes the offending photo down. She said the
panoramic images are made up of a number of photos, so the removal
of one does not affect the whole image.
She said the company had received "not even dozens"
of requests for removal, and that the request does not have to
come from the person whose face or number plate is pictured.
Google has faced a spate of recent questions and objections over
its privacy policies. It announced that it would keep search records
linking search terms to internet protocol addresses for a shorter
periods, sparking a row with privacy regulators and users.
In the aftermath of the announcement the privacy policies of
other search engines also came under scrutiny.
Google then announced that it would reduce the length of time
that its cookies would remain on users' computers. Cookies are
small text files that can be used to track a user's activity.
|
INFOWARS:
BECAUSE THERE'S A WAR ON FOR YOUR MIND
|
|
