I love Google maps and I have seen more interesting stuff on Google Maps than I actually ever thought was possible, whether it was naked rooftop sunbathers or businesses putting their logos on the rooftops there is always some interesting stuff to be seen. Recently Google added Google Maps Street View, which is very helpful when getting driving directions as it shows key landmarks. Everyone loved it and everything wasonce again right in the world of Google until this picture popped up.

What is it you may ask? Well, if you look close enough you will see that it is a picture of some ladies cat and the rest of the inside of her house which leads to the question who is Google working for and is protecting our privacy really in their best interest. Google has one of the worlds most extensive databases on human beings, if you have been online you are probably in that database, thats a pretty scary thought and yet we trust Google with that so it is up to them to keep up best practices and “Don’t Be Evil”. Now while it certainly isn’t illegal, because they are just photographing things that can be seen with the human eye anyway it is still unnerving in its own right. (The Picture Has Since Been Removed From Google Maps Street View.)

As long as Google uses these images in the way that they are supposed to be used I believe that they will do more good than harm and I also think that Google should make more public when their car will be driving by so that people can close their shades and windows if they don’t want the inside of their home photographed, regardless it didn’t seem like it was that big of a deal to get the image removed.

Google Maps Street View is also a very fun tool, check out some of these other fun pictures that have been found courtesy of the hundreds of map crawlers out there.

Typical Guy
Crime In Progress?
Zoom In On The Guy and Girl On The Bench
Guy With Small Head
More Cats
Street Art

I did have A LOT more links but most of the pictures have since been removed either at the request of the people pictured or the fact that these were plastered everywhere and Google decided to squelch the backlash before it turned into something more serious. Either way I still love Google Maps but seriously watch out for the privacy issues and keep up the good work!!

Later…

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 27th, 2007 at 2:16 pm and is filed under Uncategorized, search-engine marketing, marketing, new marketing technology, Entertainment, social media optimization, Google. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.