New Google Feature Raises Privacy Concerns Among Locals 
KJCT ABC 8
Grand Junction, CO
April 15, 2009

The United Kingdom is trying to ban it, calling it too invasive, and now it’s popping up here on the Western Slope. It’s a new feature on Google Maps called Street View.  The new street view feature allows you to check out the front of anyone’s house or business. Couple that with satellite images on Google… and almost no ones property is off limits.

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$300,000 Game To Teach Dangers Of Internet Predators 
Lexington Herald-Leader
April 15, 2009

Middle schoolers and high schoolers will learn how to protect themselves from Internet predators when a new interactive computer program starts next fall, paid for with a $300,000 earmark secured by U.S. Rep. Ben Chandler.  The Jessamine County school district will launch the program and administer money that will spread the program to the more than 80 middle schools and high schools in Chandler’s 6th congressional district in Central Kentucky. Chandler, D-Versailles, announced the funding Tuesday at East Jessamine Middle School.

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Middlesbrough Council Chief Demands Google Street View Assurances 
Evening Gazette (UK)
April 15, 2009

A council chief has written to internet giant Google to demand reassurances over its controversial new Street View service.  Google is currently recording images of Teesside to add to its increasing catalogue of street-level photographs of UK towns and cities, as reported earlier.  Street View provides online users with 360-degree views of homes, roads and cars, via a collection of still images – it is not a video.

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Google’s Privacy And Copyright Challenge 
IT Pro
April 10, 2009

There is no denying that Google is a giant success. But its size has made the “do no evil” mantra all the more difficult for it to follow – and for some of us to believe.  Lately, it seems every new release and every new decision draws the ire of someone, be it politicians, privacy campaigners, or even villagers.

 
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Take Steps To Protect Kids From Online Predators 
Salem Statesman Journal,
April 10, 2009

The Internet is an amazing tool that provides many valuable resources. Unfortunately, sexual predators also use the Internet to exploit children and teens.  Incidents of offenders exposing children to pornography, enticing them to send pornographic images of themselves and engaging in sexually explicit chat are all too common. Sexual predators may use the Internet to lure children to meet in person, resulting in tragic consequences.

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Google Street View Causes Stir In Rural Areas 
This is Scunthorpe [UK]
April 10, 2009

A Google Street View car is now taking pictures in rural North Lincolnshire.
The hi-tech van, mounted with special cameras that stitches together panoramic photographs of an area, was spotted by residents in Scawby and in Winterton.
One furious Scawby resident, who asked not to be named, said he wanted pictures of his property to be removed from the site because he was concerned that thieves would be able to use the tool to target his property.

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Google ´Spy-Car´ Spotted In Vienna 
Austrian Times
April 9, 2009

A Google camera-car that may be taking photos of city streets has been sighted in Vienna on several occasions over the past few days.  There have been several reports of sightings of a red Opel with a Google sticker and a camera mounted on its roof near Vienna General Hospital and on the Ringstraße. There were also several sightings of a Google camera-car in Vienna last year.  The camera-car may be part of preparations for a Vienna entry in the firm’s “Google Street View” feature, which enables computer users to take so-called “virtual” tours of a city’s streets.

 
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Why I Don’t Want Google Up My Street 
Belfast Telegraph
April 8, 2009

If you spotted a bloke from down the street videoing the outside of your house, you would at the very least feel vaguely uncomfortable about it. Wouldn’t you? If the Government was doing it you’d be up in arms.  But when Google Street View, a commercial outfit, not only videos our houses but posts the multi-angled views on the internet the consensus seems to be, “Ah well, there you go, not a lot we can do about it…”  Actually there is. As the residents of a village in England decided once they saw the Google car with its snooping camera come cruising down their street.

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Street View UK Is Here To Stay, Says Boss Of Google Maps 
Times of London
April 8, 2009

Google will continue to take pictures of the streets of Britain and put them online for its controversial Street View mapping service, the head of Google Maps has told The Times.  John Hanke said the feature was already widely used in the UK and dismissed concerns that it might help burglars plan where to strike. The company plans to provide coverage of most of the country by the end of next year.

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Google Invasion Means Days Of Anonymity Are Numbered
Dallas Morning News
April 7, 2009

A publicly available online view of the intersection where crossing guard Franklin Lester died last week turned out to be a memorial as well as a map.  The scene, captured on an unknown date, includes Mr. Lester himself, waiting for the kids in the very spot where he would eventually be run down by a drunken-driving suspect.

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