A Google Street View car hit a deer while imaging a road in upstate New York. You can still see the deer in the driveway in this Street View. The Register has the pictures of the incident. The pictures have already been removed by Google – considering the driver stopped and notified police, why were they even posted to begin with?
GIS is considered by some to be an invasive technology. Even though some of the “invasive” data like lot lines and ownership are in the public domain, the easy access to large data stores of personal information is a cause for concern among privacy advocates.
Some information is protected under federal laws like HIPAA, State laws (such as our own OPRA) often protect information that could be used to identify an individual. The Government Records Council has upheld redaction of information that personally identifies an individual. Any other information stored by a government entity (with exceptions) can be requested by anyone.
Google is now making the case that complete privacy does not exist. Some agree with Google. I personally feel that if it’s something that’s available to you but not readily accessible, making it accessible through the internet is not an invasion of privacy. What’s your take on privacy? Where should the line be drawn?