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After a series of high profile stories in the media portraying Google as an evil privacy-infringing web behemoth, now the public backlash begins in earnest. Yes, Broughton village near Milton Keynes has decided it would rather not have itself splashed all over Google Maps' new Street View tool.
A police car was called to the scene as angry villagers blocked the main road, preventing the Google car, with its 360 degree mounted camera, from proceeding any further on its hateful, privacy-infringing way.
"A member of the public had called us to report that he, along with a number of others, were standing in the middle of the road preventing the car from moving forwards and taking photographs," Thames Valley police is quoted by the BBC as saying. "They felt his presence was an intrusion of their privacy."
Despite Google's protestations that it is abiding by UK privacy laws and only takes pictures in public places, those curtain-twitching village folk obviously don't like the idea that they are being spied on.
The irony of all ironies, of course, is that Broughton is now receiving exposure on an unprecedented scale from all corners of the media. They'll probably be wishing they just left that Google van to its own devices now.
03 Apr 2009
