Cherished Number Plates News

Google Show Our Number Plates

13 November 2008

In the past, Google have received praises for their triumphant release and operation of the global satellite viewer ‘Google Earth’. The program allows the user to zoom in on anywhere on the surface of the earth using its easy to use interface. You can even zoom in on your own house whither it is in the desert or a built up urban area.

The program is so powerful that you can see people walking in the street and cars driving around. However, this is one of the few areas where people have criticised the program. Although it isn’t a live feed of video, rather just images taken at a particular moment, it dose however display some sensitive information. Peoples faces and car number plates have been spotted millions of times on the program. This usually happens when cars are driving up a hill or are parked in such a way that their registration is clearly visible to anyone who happens to zoom in on it. Google had a policy where by the person who owns the car could contact them and have it removed. This policy was home to a major flaw, because the chances of the owner of a car seeing their own registration were slim, however the chances of someone else spotting it were enormous.

Google have since changed their policy and now allow any licence plate which is visable to be reported by anyone and removed. This is to protect the privacy of those who may be visable on the satalite images.

Asked how many removal requests the company has received, a Google representative said, "Not even dozens."

Google vehicles equipped with high-resolution vehicles have also been travelling arounf american cities taking snapshots for use in the program, an issue which has also raised concerns.