Friday, April 24, 2009

UK Info Commish Greenlights Google Street View

Following up on my recent posts about Google Street View invading personal space in the UK--where narrow streets mean the Google camera may be just a few feet from living room windows and capturin the inside of the house--it seems the UK's the Information Commission has no problem with this.
The commission's senior data protection practice manager,   David Evans, compared being captured by the service to passers-by filmed on TV news camera. "In the same way, there is no law against anyone taking pictures of people in the street as long as the person using the camera is not harassing people," he said. BBC NEWS | Technology | All clear for Google Street View
Hmmm, methinks that the taking of the photos is not the issue. It's the publishing of the photos, like for profit, in a way that makes them accessible to everyone in the world. And unless I'm mistaken there are laws regulating taking pictures of people in the street and publishing them without their permission. Here's a handy link to the World Intellectual Property Organization.
Many countries recognize that individuals have a right of publicity. The right of publicity is the direct opposite of the right of privacy. It recognizes that a person’s image has economic value that is presumed to be the result of the person’s own effort and it gives to each person the right to exploit their own image. Under this right, you could be liable if you use a photograph of someone without their consent to gain some commercial benefit.

So the Information Commission might want to have a chat with the Intellectual Property Commission. And make no mistake, commercial gain is the reason Google is going to all the trouble of creating Street View.