The Google Van. Quick, Hide the Cat!

I can't say I always agree with Scoble, but I think he's on the right track with this one. People have been making a huge fuss about the privacy concerns due to Google's new Street View on their maps. If you aren't familiar with it, you should definitely check it out. Head to New York, NY for an example. The feature allows you to look around the streets with a pretty decent amount of detail. Anyhow, a lady raised a big ruckus because you can see her cat sitting in her window, and she felt like this was somehow a major breach in her privacy. What she, and all these fearmongers that are jumping on board with it, seem to forget is that it is perfectly legal to photograph things that are visible while just driving down the street. It is amazing how many times people rise up to defend photographers that get told they can't take pictures of people in public, yet fail to see how this is the same thing. Do a little research next time, OK?

On a side-note, Scoble talks about not wanting marketing firms to have all this info on him and what he buys. Personally, if an advertiser knows all about me and will start sending me coupons about things I need or like instead of just getting spam, I'd be all for it.