Sunday, January 22, 2006

Search Engines Providing Maps That Are Far Too Detailed? Some of the biggest names on the Internet, including Amazon.com, Microsoft and Google are providing evolving local search and mapping services, where the photographic images are typically rendered as search results. Some of the images are so detailed you can tell whether a neighbor's hedge was recently trimmed or whether the car parked in front of a favorite local eatery might belong to a friend. Now that searchable databases of detailed pictures covering wide swaths of urban areas are readily available to the public,  some privacy advocates are worried about the risks of such picture perfect exposure to vulnerable citizens such as women in domestic violence shelters. [This is another "log on the technology/anti-privacy  fire." While Privacy - the formal/legal entitlement - is receiving increasing attention, privacy - the informal/social expectation - has been eroding for decades. However, as noted in the article, no more information is available - perhaps less - than can be gotten by walking in your neighborhood. What's different as with camera phones, digitized photos, etc. is the minimal cost to record, store, preserve and distribute  this "private" information.] 10:21:34 PM    comment []