Google Street View, which has now been expanded to cover more than 95 per cent of Britain’s roads, is being seen as a “service for burglars”, according to new research.
The report, which was carried out by a discount website, myvouchercodes.co.uk, found that two-thirds of the people polled thought that Google Street View images were ‘intrusive’.
The company interviewed 1,317 people – 57 per cent of which described the street mapping service an ‘intrusion' while 24 per cent said that they believed it was simply ‘a service for burglars’.
Seventy-three per cent of the people polled who called the service an ‘intrusion’ said that they were most angered by the fact they have not given permission for the publishing of images.
Just over a third of those interviewed believe that the expansion of the service, which rolled out yesterday, was a positive move.
Thames Valley Police told The Telegraph there was no evidence to suggest that the service caused an increase in burglaries.
Google said that it took privacy concerns extremely seriously and made it easy for people to request that an image be removed. Each picture on the mapping site features a link that people can click on to ask that a picture is deleted or blurred.
"Street View has already proved immensely popular in UK in the last year, with clear tourist benefits for Britain and millions of people using it daily," a Google spokesman said.
"Anyone who has a privacy concern and wants to remove their house can do so quickly and easily but in fact we often find people get in touch asking us to come and put their street on the map.
"When it comes to security, police have told us there is no evidence to suggest an increase in crime as a result of Street View."
A spokesman from the Information Commissioner’s Office said it had received no official complaints since Google expanded the service. |
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