Blurred Views

I noticed that Microsoft's StreetSide venture is being abandoned in Germany ... where Google's Street View program was also left unfinished.  As reported by David Vranicar in TechNewsWorld yesterday (http://www.technewsworld.com/story/75177.html), the StreetSide and Street View programs have both met great resistance in that country because of privacy issues.

Interestingly, both Microsoft and Google allowed Germans the ability to opt out -- rendering the images of their residences and businesses blurred.  This leads to a first question, in my mind:  Did I have a chance to opt out?  Can I get my home blurred?

There are so many concerns with privacy these days.  So much of information about us is available to the public -- so much of our lives is online.  One of the recent debates has to do with whether employers and school officials have a right to social media passwords for their employees and students.  Even without those passwords, people are scrutinized through their online presence.

I think it has gone too far.  I don't use a great deal of social media -- I have some accounts set up, but I forget to check them or post status updates.  I really don't have anything to hide (that I know of!).  But would I give my password to my employer, so it could be scrutinized?  No.  It is clearly unethical for the employers to even ask.  Why don't they just ask to tap into your cell phone, so they can listen in on every conversation and receive a copy of every text message?  I think that even the employers would agree that requesting such access would be an overt violation of privacy.  Yet the request for a password is no less intrusive.

I applaud the Germans for collectively standing up for their privacy rights.  It seems that they were awarded the ability to opt out because of that collective concern.  Of course, not all of them chose to opt out ... but some didn't have to, because their resistance to the program meant that both Google and Microsoft have abandoned the project within their borders.

In all fairness, I also give kudos to both Google and Microsoft for pulling out when they did -- even though the German government has ruled in the company's favor, giving them the legal right to continue taking pictures. Perhaps the rest of us might learn to become more proactive with regard to privacy issues, rather than crying foul after the fact.


UPDATE:  I found this information about opting out of Google's Street View, for those who are interested: http://survivalblog.com/2012/03/letter-re-renewing-your-google-street-view-opt-out.html.  I have not yet found an ability to do so with Microsoft's StreetSide ... although Bing Maps says that StreetSide is not yet available where I live.