Broughton, United Kingdom: Residents in a suburban village in south east of England have protested against Google Maps Street View by making a human chain that will prevent a car to take pictures of their town and posts these on the Internet.
Google Maps Street View, which is an online service that allows people to have a bird’s eye view of a certain location, has been under controversy since its first launching in May 2007 as some people raise privacy concerns.
According to Times online report, residents of Buckinghamshire had formed a human chain to stop the car from entering into their town, adding that Google’s online service is a “pure invasion of people’s privacy”.
The protesters also said that uploaded images can also be used by criminal elements especially burglars to look at some properties and homes which can be their target.
Meanwhile, the driver who is supposed to take pictures of the town was forced to leave the area as people are determined not to let Google take any image of their village.
When asked for comments, Google said that its service will not aggravate criminal elements but instead will serve as a tool to prevent crimes in happening and can serve as a way to spread awareness to people regarding criminality prevention.
In his blog post, Google product consultant Gavin Mcginty said authorities can even use the online service to fight crimes and provide information to the public.
Earlier, Google had removed some uploaded pictures from its service including a picture of a man vomiting near a pub and a customer who came out of an adult movie shop as some critics said these pictures can be offensive to people.
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