Street View news stories on Newser

'Know-It-All' Street View Engineer Identified

Mary Papenfuss — Tue, 01 May 2012 02:35:00 CDT

The noose appears to be tightening around Google. Federal sources have now identified the Google engineer who knew —and informed co-workers and a boss—that Street View cars were snatching unencrypted personal data from potentially millions of household wireless networks over three years, according to government investigators. Google execs have...

Google Knew Street View Was Snatching Data: FCC

Newser Editors — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 10:54:28 CDT

The fact that Google's Street View operation was snatching citizens' personal data from the air shouldn't have come as a surprise to company execs—because their own engineer told them it was happening, according to a new federal report. Google has maintained all along that secret collection of personal data...

Google Fined $25K for Stalling Street View Probe

Mark Russell — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 04:27:00 CDT

The Federal Communications Commission was sympathetic in 2010 when Google said it was really, really sorry its street map vehicles accidentally picked up people's personal information from their wireless home networks. Two years later, however, the FCC is exasperated by Google's lack of cooperation with a probe into the problem,...

Far-Flung Amazon Village Hitting Google Street View

Rob Quinn — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 05:48:10 CDT

Google's effort to extend Street View to places well off the beaten track has brought it to a remote village on a tributary of the Amazon. A Google trike with nine cameras attached was sent to the remote Brazilian community of Tumbira and traveled up and down its paths and...

Google: We Accidentally Grabbed Emails, Passwords

Evann Gastaldo — Sat, 23 Oct 2010 13:01:00 CDT

First MySpace , now Google: Apparently today is the day for Internet privacy flaps. Google, which admitted in May its roving Street View cars collected data about websites people visited on unprotected WiFi networks, admits now that the cars actually collected even more personal data—including complete emails and passwords, Reuters...

Gawker Finds God —on Google Street View

Nick McMaster — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 17:11:02 CDT

Not even the almighty is safe from Google's cameras. Or so it appears, based on an image on Google Street View taken over a lake in Switzerland, notes Gawker . "Is it something on the camera lens?" asks Max Read. "Or is it maybe... God and His only begotten Son ?"

100K Germans Opt Out of Google Street View

Evann Gastaldo — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 11:17:02 CDT

Planning to use Google Street View in Germany? It may not be very useful: More than 100,000 Germans have requested their homes be blurred out when Street View launches in their country this year. That number could actually be in the several hundreds of thousands, sources tell Der Spiegel...

Google Street View Nabs Dutch Thieves

Ambreen Ali — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 01:52:57 CDT

The Google Street View that has infuriated many privacy advocates has helped solve a crime, the BBC reports. A Dutch boy, 14, chanced upon a months-old photo on Street View that shows him with two men right before they allegedly mugged him. Authorities retrieved the original photo from Google—the...

Google Will Censor Street View in Germany

Ambreen Ali — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 15:44:02 CDT

Google has bowed to German privacy concerns and will censor its Street View program to block out faces, house numbers, and license plates of people opting out of the service. The company’s panoramic mapping service has faced opposition as it expands worldwide, the AP reports. When it launches in Germany,...