Gov't wants Google to say when it will take Street View footage

Wednesday 26th August, 06:42 AM JST

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thepro at 08:43 AM JST - 26th August

Why are they so opposed to such a useful service
bamboohat at 09:02 AM JST - 26th August

including alerting residents about when and where it will take its close-up, 360-degree color footage of city streets

You said it biglittleman. Japan is all about promoting a false image to the world. This threatens that false image, showing real japan with real dirty streets and dirty houses, adverts everywhere and not the pretty kimono manga character filled fantasy land they'd like the world to believe in.

google already has technology that blurs out peoples faces, license plates and other personal things, that is already using in other countries. These privacy issues have already been addressed. Why does japan need to be special and put on the their Sunday best when google comes by?
biglittleman at 09:31 AM JST - 26th August

Yeah bamboohat,

No one wants people to know they live in the bad part of town. It is similar to the problems they had awhile back with maps showing the low-caste communities. People are still judge and discriminated against because of it. Yep, they don't want to expose the real Japan.
societymike at 09:33 AM JST - 26th August

In related news, there are multiple images floating around taken straight out of Google Street View in Tokyo of couples entering or exiting Love Hotels, and in MOST cases, you can pretty much tell who they are even if they managed to blur their faces, which by the way, not all faces are blurred.

So with that, I can understand why people are a little upset with the invation of privacy Google street view is inflicting on everyone.
moonknightskye at 09:36 AM JST - 26th August

they are over reacting. whats the difference between being really there and seeing the picture of the place? everyone can loiter in japan seeing peoples faces, plates and their personal things. the only difference is time and money. if they are really concerned about the streetview image, they all should wear masks, cover their license plates and houses.
spudman at 09:58 AM JST - 26th August

Weird for a nation of compulsive starers to be so concerned with privacy. Kind of like the smoker saying don't smoke near me.
salarymanblues at 10:13 AM JST - 26th August

the number of images showing couples coming out of love hotels must be extremely slim. anyway the couples would be in their cars are not recognisable.
DeepAir65 at 10:16 AM JST - 26th August

I don't get it - I can go out today with my camera and take much more detailed pictures and post them to flickr or whatever.

I like Street View - it is particularly useful when in a foreign country where you can't read the street signs but you can recognise the shop or junction etc from a photo.
biglittleman at 10:19 AM JST - 26th August

@salarymanbblues

Most love hotel customers walk there. What car are they going to hide in?
Marius2 at 10:27 AM JST - 26th August

societymike, looks like you've swallowed a hearsay. Hook, line and sink. With millions in every city you can hardly tell just by the clothes of people.

As for the article, they are really blurring faces, and to an extreme so. They even go as far as blurring statues. Like this one for example: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=ja&geocode=&q=%E6%9D%B1%E4%BA%AC%E9%83%BD%E4%B8%96%E7%94%B0%E8%B0%B7%E5%8C%BA%E6%9D%BE%E5%8E%9F%EF%BC%92%E4%B8%81%E7%9B%AE%EF%BC%92%EF%BC%93%E2%88%92%EF%BC%92+%E6%97%A5%E6%9C%AC&sll=35.666965,139.650277&sspn=0.00031,0.000462&ie=UTF8&ll=35.667617,139.650285&spn=0.009919,0.014784&t=h&z=16&iwloc=A&layer=c&cbll=35.666849,139.650289&panoid=e0luuvrRLPVhbpmzmxWLxw&cbp=12,354.14,,0,5&start=0

So...I can't help but to think, and come to the same conclusion as biglittle and bamboohat
noborito at 10:27 AM JST - 26th August

people will bitch for just about anything. those ugly buildings that haven't been cleaned in 30 years surly don't want photos posted up on the net. (example: 50% of Tokyo) I think they can put a loud speaker on top of the cars and blast at the highest possible volume that they are photographing. And simply make it available online for the owner of any property to delete the listing, provided they prove they own the property. Make the property owner do the work.
societymike at 12:59 PM JST - 26th August

Marius2 at 10:27 AM JST - 26th August societymike, looks like you've swallowed a hearsay. Hook, line and sink. With millions in every city you can hardly tell just by the clothes of people. As for the article, they are really blurring faces, and to an extreme so.

Uh no, you obviously haven't seen the pictures. They are CLEAR AS DAY, multiple couples walking into Love Hotels in Tokyo. Continue down the same street and see people standing at bus stops with faces unblurred. Even the faces of some people that are "blurred" are still obvious as to who they are since it's only the eyes in some cases, but don't forget about clothing.

I still prefer the streetview myself as it's great for navigation and just down right cool to use, but you HAVE to admit, it's a serious invasion of privacy.
viking68 at 02:18 PM JST - 26th August

Ok, now I want to troll around dogenzaka using google maps. Should be good for a couple of laughs.
randomenigma at 03:41 PM JST - 26th August

If you want to troll you pretty much have to be there in person.

That said, I think this would be awesome. If we knew when the Google van was going to do the rounds, we could make sure to be there waving to it at each location. You could have contests for how many times the same person is photographed on Street View. :-D
FromEurope at 07:25 PM JST - 26th August

I read somewhere that the people were anxious of the thief who can use this tool to find the best way to break into the house, and to escape from the house safely. Because of the high view point of the camera, we can see behind the 2m high wall that can't be seen usually from our eye level when we are walking. It's true, I saw in certain residential area, I could see some details of the house behind the wall.