Nomination for the Australian Privacy Foundation ‘Big Brother Awards’ 2009 
BBA 2009 FINALIST 

Criteria for a BBA 2009 Award
The nominee must  be:
•	in or associated with Australia
•	responsible for a truly outstanding abuse (or defence) of privacy.
As appropriate for the particular Award Category the nominee should be a public or private sector individual or organization, a government program or initiative,  a private sector business activity.
The deed for which they are nominated should have at least partially been put into practice – they lose points for just planning or announcing something!  Further details about BBA2009 are available at http://www.privacy.org.au/bba/.

A.	Name of Nominee

Google Maps - Street View

B.	Award Category - Privacy Abuser for an “Orwell” Award 

Most Invasive Technology – for a technology that is particularly privacy invasive.

C.	Description
Award is for introducing a surveillance technology detrimental to privacy.

“Google Street View is a feature of Google Maps and Google Earth that provides for many streets in the world 360o horizontal and 290o  vertical panoramic views from a row of positions along the street (one every approximately 10 or 20 metres), from a height of about 2.5 metres.” (source: Google Street View – Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Street_View  accessed 7/10/2009). It includes street signs and other features. Street View was gradually introduced into Australia in 2008/09. Anyone accessing Google Maps – Street View can explore the private property and human and physical environments of many Australia cities and towns in all States at street view level, including people, vehicles (including make and model) and other objects.  

The technology adopted by Google uses an algorithm to search the image data base and blur faces and car registration plates, and there is reportedly a 3 month lapse between image gathering and publication. However it is still possible for people and some vehicles, particularly in smaller towns to be identified and the behaviour of groups to be shown. Greece, Switzerland and other governments refused to allow Google to collect Street View imagery until privacy concerns were addressed. Civil libertarian and privacy advocates protested.

Google management has shown disregard for the privacy of citizens. There is an assumption that privacy invasion is less important than providing a street level view of an address to privacy invaders. Lars Rasmussen from Google was reported to have said “So, these are all images that anyone could go out and take with a camera” (source: “Google denies Street View has privacy issues” by Munir Kotadia and Chris Duckett, ZNNet, Australia, 5 June 2007m 10.01am). The developers of this technology do not seem to understand or acknowledge the differences of the impacts of images placed on the internet for public access and photos taken for private or restricted use, or television images not stored or publicly accessed. 

Google provides an option for an image to be removed. However, a person needs to know their image is included, or their privacy has been invaded by Street View before they can request it be removed. 

D.	 Evidence of the Actions and References
Google Street View: Australia  - http://maps.google.com.au/maps

Google Street View – Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Street_View

Australian Government Office of the Privacy Commissioner http://www.privacy.gov.au/topics/surveillance; 
Privacy Matters Vol 3 Issue 1 Spring 2008 (page 1)

Privacy International http://www.privacyinternational.org

Google Street View faces more privacy critics http://www.techworld.com.au/article/303086/google_street_view_faces_more_privacy_critics
http://www.itwire.com/component/option,com_tag/tag,Google%20Street%20View/tag_id,27105/
Swiss latest to buck Google Street View
Written By: Jake Widman
Section: Information technology news  Category: Search engines 2009-08-25 13:58:05
In the latest European pushback against Google's Street View depictions of identifiable cars, houses, and people, Swiss officials have demanded the company take down any images from Switzerland. Google has promised to do something about it.

Greece blocks Google Street View
Written By: Jake Widman
Section: Information technology news  Category: Search engines 2009-05-12 14:58:48
The Greek government agency in charge of protecting personal data and individual privacy has banned Google Street View vehicles, pending "additional information" from Google.

Shock! Horror! Google pulls UK Street View images
Written By: Stephen Withers
Section: Core Dump Category: Apple and anything else 2009-03-22 18:49:01
Each time Google extends Street View to a new country, there's a fresh wave of 'privacy' complaints. The UK's proving no exception.

Google adds Panoramio user photos to Street View
Written By: Stephen Withers
Section: Information technology news Category: Internet 2009-02-27 00:03:37
Google caused a fuss when it augmented Google Maps with its systematically-taken Street View photos. Will the addition of user-contributed images lead to a further flap? 

E.  	Why the Nominee Deserves the Award:
Scope of the Impact
The scope of Google Street View is international. It affects the privacy of citizens in at least 16 countries.

Seriousness of the Impact.
The technology is very invasive of privacy despite the blurring that now occurs. The potential uses of the technology are of extreme concern. There are already reports of other images (including real time data) being superimposed on Street View.    

The implications for privacy are very serious. The technology pushes the boundaries of techniques and practices that are privacy invasive. It takes advantage of  limitations of current Australian legislation to protect people from surveillance. It significantly extends the issue of publication of images (particularly electronic publication on the internet on websites with unrestricted access) that impact on privacy without informed consent.

F. 	Other Comments
This nomination form was emailed to Google for comment on 19 October for comment by 31 October 2009. No response was received from Google by the Coordinator of BBA2009 by 1 November 2009.