Google Maps Japan

[Mulboyne]

This Asahi article (Japanese) says that Google has already received takedown requests from people who claim invasion of privacy. The two images I linked to above are specifically mentioned but it isn't clear if the individuals have complained. It appears the Google will consider such requests but takes the basic stance that photographs taken from a public street are fair use since they only show what a passer-by could see.

[Charles]

I saw an article somewhere that described a technique Google was researching that would automatically blur faces in the Street Maps. I don't see how they could scan, face detect, blur, and resave the billions of images, that seems like a more monumental undertaking than the original project.

[Mulboyne]

I saw an article somewhere that described a technique Google was researching that would automatically blur faces in the Street Maps...

You can see that they've used face blurring in the Japanese version of Street View. They have also obscured car number plates. Inevitably, it hasn't worked in all cases so, where people complain, their first reaction would likely be to add or increase the level of blurring rather than remove an image.

[Charles]

You can see that they've used face blurring in the Japanese version of Street View. They have also obscured car number plates. Inevitably, it hasn't worked in all cases so, where people complain, their first reaction would likely be to add or increase the level of blurring rather than remove an image.

I drove around the map on Street View, there are places where you can clearly see faces, but it's hard to see if anyone is unrecognizable due to blurring or the low rez. Even license plates are illegible at this rez. But there is clearly some blurring going on, even if it misses the target at times.

[Mulboyne]

Another article (Japanese) has picked up on that love hotel couple and also on images of homeless people, traffic accidents, fires, celebrity homes and the like. The gist of the article is concern about privacy and misuse of the information. It uses an argument which commonly crops up: Japanese houses are smaller and closer to the road than American houses so the potential for invasion of privacy is much greater. On misuse, the article wonders whether potential employers will check where people live and start discriminating against them. It worries that, even if Google removes certain images, a lot of information has already been released to the public domain and cannot easily be retracted.








Also, flying saucer "spotted" here (from Gizmodo)

EDIT: There's now a Japanese site dedicated to collecting interesting Street View images. The images are embedded so you can actually manipulate them just as you can on the site. They have some good cherry blossom views, follow the "Google Car" into a Family Mart and catch several candid shots including kids hitting each other and a guy pissing in the street. The facial blurring technology also worked perfectly on a picture of Col. Sanders.

[sublight]

It would have been perfect if this cyclist had been a white foreigner. There's been a sighting of a love hotel couple in Osaka here.

I get a message now that that part of the map isn't available anymore (quite a few of those around Kabukicho). What was it?

At my office we immediately did a search of each other's houses. Looking for my boss's we managed to find several images of him walking to the station. His face was blurred, but the clothing and the hairstyle were obvious to anyone who knew him.

[Mulboyne]

I get a message now that that part of the map isn't available anymore (quite a few of those around Kabukicho). What was it?

A cyclist being questioned by two policeman. His face was obscured but that's exactly the kind of image that Google would want to delete.

Here's Road to the Deep East:

[url=http://gaijinheart.blog100.fc2.com/blog-entry-162.html]A Crazy Otaku Sneaks Into 15 year-old actress House]

Too convenient service from google, Google Street View started in Japan few days back, and it is raising a controversy about the invasion of privacy. And today, one incident which MIGHT be caused by this Street View occurred in Kanagawa Prefecture. A crazy otaku sneaked into 15 year-old actress, Shida Mirai' house. According to the police, last night, 22 year-old jobless man was arrested at the apartment for trespass. This man got over the fence of the apartment and sneaked into the building, and was walking about the corridor...It's still UNCERTAIN whether he used this service for real, but one thing for sure is the crazy person COULD see the outlook of her apartment via Street View just as others did after this incident.

Google Street View is a very convenient service, especially, for the person who has no sense of direction like me. But in a small country like Japan, it can be a starter of serious crimes like this. At an invasion of privacy lawsuit in Pennsylvania, google explained that there is no complete privacy in modern society. But will google.com make excuse after tons of teenage idols are raped in Japan in this way? Just like Amazon.com's case few month ago, this incident seems to me another case caused by the cultural difference between Japanese tradition and foreign company's officiousness. I mean, Leave us alone!!

[Caustic Saint]

An open letter to Google from Osamu Higuchi.

Good explanation of Japanese cultural norms and why Street View isn't so well received (or even wanted) here.

[Mulboyne]

An open letter to Google from Osamu Higuchi.

He overstates his case, I think. As some commenters to that article, and others to the original Japanese version have noted, Street View has raised privacy concerns in a number of countries so he doesn't need to pit an American multinational against Japanese sensibilities to make his point.

It's not uncommon to hear arguments in Japan take the form of:

• I don't like x
• I'm Japanese
• Therefore Japanese people don't like x

This conclusion is then followed by some cod historical, cultural or sociological basis for such an attitude.

Of course, you'll find similar arguments made elsewhere in the world. It's very common to hear religious people say something like:

• I don't like x
• I'm Catholic/Muslim/Sikh
• Therefore Catholics/Muslims/Sikhs don't like x

However, one reason why they crop up in Japan a reasonable amount is because a lot of people are uncomfortable about clearly expressing their own opinions and preferences. It's easier, then, to claim a personal opinion is actually universally held because it shifts the discussion to cultural differences rather than requiring a speaker to justify their stance.

Taking the religious example again, the implication is that if you do like x, you can't be a real Catholic/Muslim/Sikh. Back to the Japan example, if the discussion is with a foreigner then the clear implication is that "liking x" shows how the foreigner is not Japanese. When it's two Japanese discussing something the issue is obviously not one of cultural differences. Instead, the implication is more "you've got no common sense" or, worse, "you're selfish".

[Catoneinutica]

He overstates his case, I think. As some commenters to that article, and others to the original Japanese version have noted, Street View has raised privacy concerns in a number of countries so he doesn't need to pit an American multinational against Japanese sensibilities to make his point.

It's not uncommon to hear arguments in Japan take the form of:

• I don't like x
• I'm Japanese
• Therefore Japanese people don't like x

This conclusion is then followed by some cod historical, cultural or sociological basis for such an attitude.

Of course, you'll find similar arguments made elsewhere in the world. It's very common to hear religious people say something like:

• I don't like x
• I'm Catholic/Muslim/Sikh
• Therefore Catholics/Muslims/Sikhs don't like x

However, one reason why they crop up in Japan a reasonable amount is because a lot of people are uncomfortable about clearly expressing their own opinions and preferences. It's easier, then, to claim a personal opinion is actually universally held because it shifts the discussion to cultural differences rather than requiring a speaker to justify their stance.

Taking the religious example again, the implication is that if you do like x, you can't be a real Catholic/Muslim/Sikh. Back to the Japan example, if the discussion is with a foreigner then the clear implication is that "liking x" shows how the foreigner is not Japanese. When it's two Japanese discussing something the issue is obviously not one of cultural differences. Instead, the implication is more "you've got no common sense" or, worse, "you're selfish".

It's always a pleasure, and a reminder of why FG is so great, when Mulboyne steps out from behind his primary role as news-linked-new-topic starter and offers his own insights into how things work in Japan.

[bolt_krank]

It's not uncommon to hear arguments in Japan take the form of:

• I don't like x
• I'm Japanese
• Therefore Japanese people don't like x

This conclusion is then followed by some cod historical, cultural or sociological basis for such an attitude.

Too true...

The number of times I haven't heard that as an excuse - I could probably count on one hand.

[Mulboyne]

[Mulboyne]

Yomiuri: Google Street View raises privacy fears

Google's Street View service is stoking concerns among many people who fear its panoramic street views violate their privacy. Though users also have commented on the service's usefulness, saying they can get street views online for free of places they have never visited, many also have raised concerns over privacy issues the street view photos could be causing. Many of the photos capture passersby and show close-up shots of entrances to private residences, and some people argue this could be an infringement of privacy and portrait rights. On Oct. 9, Tokyo's Machida Municipal Assembly adopted a proposal asking the central government to impose controls on Google regarding the service.

When users click on a street on Google's map service, an image pops up offering a street-level view of the area, featuring a 360-degree panoramic view from about eye-level that has been made from photos taken with a camera in a moving car. Some industries already have taken advantage of the service. A real estate agency said it used the street view system to provide customers with services such as giving directions and local area information. But there are those who fear the service is prying into their private lives. A woman in her 60s of Zushi, Kanagawa Prefecture, is upset about the system. "I don't want a whole bunch of strangers looking at my house," she said, remarking that the area in front of her house is clearly shown in the street view.

An official of the high school attached to Tsurumi University in Yokohama said Google had, until about a month ago, featured images of the school grounds that clearly appeared to have been taken on the school's property. After this issue was debated online, the images were removed from the street view. But the school said it still worries about security because there are female students at the school. There also are images of couples exiting love hotels, and children and elderly people going in and out of houses. Google has software designed to automatically conceal the faces of people in the images, but there are some cases in which the program fails to detect faces and leaves them uncensored. One person pointed out that even if a face is concealed, it would be relatively easy for somebody who knows the person to recognize them based on clothing or other characteristics.

There are already Web sites available on the Internet that use images collected from Street View, including a site showing images of show-business personalities' parental homes, and one featuring eye-catching images such as couples kissing on the street. The Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry discussed the privacy issues with a Google official in charge of the service after a barrage of complaints and inquiries regarding Street View flooded into the ministry, but it refrained from interfering with the service. An official of the ministry's Information Economy Division said, "Under the Personal Information Protection Law, we can't regulate the service even if someone's face was shown on the Web site, as long as the person can't be identified."

Some local assemblies have begun discussing the issue. On Oct. 9, the Machida Municipal Assembly in Tokyo approved a proposal asking the central government and the Tokyo metropolitan government to regulate Street View. During assembly debate, one member said, "Viewers can see whether a household has children or elderly people, leading to the possibility of the service being abused to commit illegal acts." The Ibaraki Municipal Assembly in Osaka Prefecture also has discussed the issue. A Google spokesman said, "There's nothing improper about the service as long as the images are taken from a public road...We would like [the opportunity] to keep discussing the service with governments and assemblies to win their understanding," he added. However, Google is reluctant to divulge the number of complaints received from Street View users, as well as the number of requests to delete images from the site.

Masao Horibe, a professor emeritus at Hitotsubashi University, said Street View does not necessarily infringe on people's portrait rights. However, he said there is the possibility the service might violate portrait rights if an individual's face was clearly visible on the Web site. Horibe said: "The photos are taken from 2.5 meters aboveground, meaning that images can be taken from an angle that looks beyond a wall and into private premises. There's a possibility that such images violate the right of privacy." "If images were used to commit crimes, people might file a civil lawsuit to claim damages against Google," Horibe said.

===

Google began Street View in the United States in May 2007. The service started in July in France, and in August in Japan and Australia. However, many problems related to the service already have been reported. In the United States, a couple in Pennsylvania sued Google for compensation in April, claiming the company had violated their privacy rights by photographing their home. In March, the U.S. Defense Department banned Google teams from taking images inside military bases after images of a Texas military installation were featured on Street View. The images were deleted. In August 2007, Canada's privacy commissioner sent a letter to Google expressing her concern about the service. She pointed out that although Google allows viewers to request their images be removed, it is only a partial solution because individuals may not be aware that photographs of them are on Street View. At that time, Google had started capturing images in Canada, but the service has not yet been rolled out there.

[Mulboyne]

The Asahi reports (Japanese) that a teacher in Aomori used the "My Map" feature of Google Maps to note the names of his pupils against the location of their houses to help when making personal visits to parents. However, he left the setting as "public" rather than "private" which meant that the information was available to anyone looking at a map of the area. The teacher has apologized and the Board of Education doesn't believe that any harm was done.

[Mulboyne]

The Asahi reports (Japanese) that a teacher in Aomori used the "My Map" feature of Google Maps to note the names of his pupils against the location of their houses to help when making personal visits to parents.

He wasn't the only one.

Yomiuri: Student data slip out via Google Maps

Personal information on about 980 students from 37 schools has been mistakenly disclosed to the public by teachers using the Google Maps Web site, according to a Yomiuri Shimbun study. Primary, middle and high school teachers using the site to locate their students' homes easily and for other record-keeping purposes have been inputting the names, addresses and other pieces of personal information of students on the free online map search site. In some cases, however, they have mistakenly made the information accessible to the general public. The Yomiuri study also found that some of the data in question has remained in the public domain even after teachers tried to delete it. Communicating through the prefectural boards of education, the Education, Science and Technology Ministry has instructed schools and other educational institutions nationwide to ensure that students' personal information is appropriately handled. Inappropriate disclosure of students' information on Google Maps has been discovered in 21 prefectures, including Hokkaido, Aomori, Chiba, Saitama, Aichi, Osaka and Miyazaki. Information about 34 students in three kindergartens, 420 students in 15 primary schools, 390 students in 15 middle schools and 133 students in four high schools is known to have been disclosed in this way.

The problem relates to usage of the My Maps function of the site operated by Google, a major Internet portal, which started the service in April last year. By inputting an address on the site, users can search for a location via an online map. Users can also register landmarks, the names of specific locations, addresses or other information on the Internet site for personal use. The public disclosure problem stems from Google Maps' default settings. Users of the service tend to assume that information entered is available only to themselves as the site promotes itself as an exclusive map for individual users. But the default setting allows access to all Internet users and this remains the case as long as the user does not change the setting to limited access. Potential information leakage has raised concerns, especially over teachers' compiling of maps for visiting students' homes. Some of the disclosed map data reveals students' names, addresses and telephone numbers.

"In many cases, teachers visit students' homes at the beginning of the school year," a 52-year-old vice principal of a middle school in Chiba Prefecture said. "For teachers unfamiliar with local geography, it can be a hard job tracking down each student's home on foot. So Google Maps is a convenient tool for finding houses and creating lists of locations just by inputting the relevant addresses." "With the My Maps function, I can quickly find the shortest route for making visits," a school teacher said. Though users should be able to delete the registered data by clicking a button on the site, there have been many complaints that information remains accessible even after the delete button has been clicked. A teacher at a municipal middle school in Seto, Aichi Prefecture, deleted the names, addresses and other data of about 15 students that had been accessible by the general public from his personal online map. But on Friday, some of the data was still accessible. A teacher at a primary school in Miyazaki, deleted such data on Nov. 5, but discovered that the information was still on the online map several days later. The school's vice principal said: "Teachers have used Google Maps in class. But as a service that comes free of charge, it comes with risks."

According to Google Inc.'s public relations department, information registered by users on their My Maps sites is copied and stored on two or more servers, and thus it is possible that a record of the data might remain for a while even after a user has "deleted" it. "We'll delete data immediately if users ask us to," a Google spokesman said. Similar problems relating to Google Maps have also occurred at companies and hospitals. Sega Corp., an Ota Ward, Tokyo-based major video game maker, found that personal information on 115 applicants for part-time jobs at the company had been accessible to the public via the site. A hospital in Nagoya found that the names, addresses, telephone numbers and other pieces of personal information about patients receiving artificial dialysis and 80 users of its day care center for the elderly had been accessible via the site. The Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry's Fixed Property Tax Division compiled data on the home addresses of about 30 officials for emergency use on the site, and this list too was accessible by the general public.

[Mulboyne]

Reuters: Japanese group asks Google to stop map image service

A group of Japanese lawyers and professors asked on Friday that Google Inc stop providing detailed street-level images of Japanese cities on the Internet, saying they violated privacy rights. Google's Street View offers ground-level, 360-degree views of streets in 12 Japanese cities and is also offered for some 50 cities in the United States and certain areas in Europe. The service allows Web users to drive down a street, in a virtual sense, using their mouse to adjust views of roadside scenery. "We strongly suspect that what Google has been doing deeply violates a basic right that humans have," Yasuhiko Tajima, a professor of constitutional law at Sophia University in Tokyo, told Reuters by telephone. "It is necessary to warn society that an IT giant is openly violating privacy rights, which are important rights that the citizens have, through this service." The Campaign Against Surveillance Society, a Japanese civilian group that Tajima heads, wants Google to stop providing its Street View service of Japanese cities and delete all saved images. Google's office in Tokyo was unable to comment immediately.

Privacy concerns about Google's service have grown in Japanese media, especially after some people discovered their images on Street View. Similar concerns have been raised in other parts of the world, including the United States and Europe. In one case, a woman was shown sunbathing and in another a man was pictured exiting a strip club in San Francisco. In March, Google said it would comply with a Pentagon request to remove some online images from Street View over fears they posed a security threat to U.S. military bases. Web-based Google Maps and a related computer-based service called Google Earth have drawn criticism from a variety of countries for providing images of sensitive locations, such as military bases or potential targets of terror attacks.

[IkemenTommy]

There was a shot of a lady(?) squatting to take a piss in Madrid but the shot is already taken down.

[Greji]

There was a shot of a lady(?) squatting to take a piss in Madrid but the shot is already taken down.

It was taken down because it violated the loose canine in public law. If she hadda been a fox, it would still be up.....

[GuyJean]

Love it!.. I also like how they took proper measures to blur the license plate..

GJ

[Greji]

:lol: Love it!.. I also like how they took proper measures to blur the license plate..

GJ

Well, Gomi hadn't had that car all that long......

[FG Lurker]

Google Street View KILLS (deer)!



"Oops!"

From Gizmodo.

[Sentakki Fried Chicken]

Google Street View KILLS (deer)!



"Oops!"

From Gizmodo.

I think rather than "Oops," "Oh deer" may be more in line...

[wuchan]

As you follow the street view scene down Five Points Road in Rush, NY, you can see the deer run out in front of the car, get hit and then see it on the side of the road before the car pulls over. And that's the end of the Street View data for Five Points Road.

I wonder why they chose to leave this part in. The animal rights people are going to have a field day with one. Too bad it wasn't a full grown moose....

what, no bambi comment?

[FG Lurker]

I wonder why they chose to leave this part in. The animal rights people are going to have a field day with one. Too bad it wasn't a full grown moose....

Google has pulled the images now, that part of the road has been "disappeared" from Street View.

I'm guessing they left it in because there are an estimated 60,000 to 70,000 deer strikes in NY State every year...

[wuchan]

Google has pulled the images now, that part of the road has been "disappeared" from Street View.

I'm guessing they left it in because there are an estimated 60,000 to 70,000 deer strikes in NY State every year...

One would think that a company like Google would have better screening processes. How did these images end up on GSV? Were the managers sleeping? I could see this happening in japan, but in the US? I am willing to bet more than one person got fired over this.

Upstate does have moose, if they hit a moose.......... at least the car would have been the victim.

[FG Lurker]

One would think that a company like Google would have better screening processes. How did these images end up on GSV? Were the managers sleeping? I could see this happening in japan, but in the US? I am willing to bet more than one person got fired over this.

It happens 60,000 to 70,000 times per year in NY State alone. It's not a big deal.

Hitting a moose is about the worst thing that can happen. Most people don't survive a moose hit if there is any speed involved at all.

[wuchan]

It happens 60,000 to 70,000 times per year in NY State alone. It's not a big deal.

Hitting a moose is about the worst thing that can happen. Most people don't survive a moose hit if there is any speed involved at all.

I began my life in the area..... check my avatar, it was taken about 50 meters from my last address. Trust me, moose fuck up cars and walk away. I know that hitting deer in NE is common, but to show it is a different story.

[IkemenTommy]

Oh bambie!

[wuchan]

Oh bambie!

there it is!!!

[IkemenTommy]

Hell, I've hit a bambie going 70mph on a back road near home once. I was more worried that it fucked up my car than the damned fuckin deer. The car was alright but it left a nice fat skid mark on the road from slamming on the brakes though.