back to article Austrian takes pickaxe to Street View spymobile

An Austrian old timer could be in a spot of bother with police after he chased a Street View spymobile with a pickaxe, the Austrian Times reports. Google's Orwellian Opels have apparently come out of winter hibernation to continue their invasion of Austria. This didn't go down too well with 70-year-old Hermann Zach, who …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    i'd like to say

    street view link or it didn't happen

    1. Richard 120
      Big Brother

      Really?

      If it's not on google it doesn't exist?

      I didn't realise their plans were that far advanced yet.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        @Richard 120

        where do _you_ live? don't tell me in the real world. c'mon!

        it must be true cause i've seen it on the interweb. and vice versa

      2. TeeCee Gold badge

        Re: Really?

        It's worse than that.

        If it's not on Google, it *never* existed. Anywhere. Ever.....

    2. BristolBachelor Gold badge
      Coat

      New to The Reg?

      It has to be playmobil

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Go

    Can't wait

    Until these pics go live on streetview

  3. This post has been deleted by its author

    1. Anonymous Coward
      FAIL

      Re: Flat World?

      Austrian, not Australian.

      1. Evil Auditor Silver badge
        Pint

        oops!

        The bell strikes pub'o'clock...

        Thanks, Doc

    2. Anonymous Coward
      FAIL

      no

      No, that would be "estivation"

    3. Mark McNeill
      Badgers

      word geek

      Estivation, not summer hibernation.

  4. Wize

    They will be good shots

    The view from the camera speeding away from a pickaxe wielding nutter before the neighbours bundle on top of him.

  5. Mike Hanna
    Big Brother

    Imagine

    Imagine the wrath if they don't pixelate his face properly

  6. Endolf
    Grenade

    Winter hibernation?

    Hasn't summer just ended down under?

    1. Aaron Jacobs
      Headmaster

      Geography and reading skills are lacking

      That's Austrian not Austrailian.

      1. Pete 40
        Headmaster

        Spelling skills are lacking

        Unless there's a new country called "Austrailia". Of course, maybe there are a lot of trains there.

      2. J 3
        Happy

        Ouch

        Where is the "ironically shot own foot" icon when you need it? It would be perfect for half of this thread...

    2. Jim 48
      FAIL

      Dib-dob

      You'd have thought the names might have been a bit of a give away

    3. Annihilator
      FAIL

      Down under

      *Austria* is the country south-west of Germany...

      1. Robert von Knobloch
        Unhappy

        ##Annihilator

        I don't know if you are perhaps from across the pond (and can be excused for imprecision), but Austria is South EAST of Germany. At least when I last looked.

      2. Pete 40
        Happy

        South-West?

        South-East, shurely?

        1. JohnG

          South-East

          Australia is also South-East of Germany - albeit, a bit further away.

      3. Hud Dunlap
        Joke

        so is Australia

        Just a whole lot more southwest

    4. richy987
      FAIL

      Topography is quite hard, apparently

      Let me guess: you're from the States (as I have noticed time and again that the topographical knowledge of the average American is seriously lacking), right? The distance between Austria and Australia is about 15,000 to 20,000 km (just a guess)...

      Someone who lives in The Netherlands (which is *not* the capital of Denmark!)...

      Now go get your coat and go back to the classroom.

      1. Eddy Ito

        Re: Topography is quite hard, apparently

        First, I think you meant geography as topography generally isn't concerned with people or politics. That is topography is concerned only with physical attributes of a space and not the drawing of imaginary lines differentiating my dirt from your dirt.

        "Let me guess: you're from the States"

        Well it isn't like he'd expect you to know where Teec Nos Pos is. That said, it's true general edjumacation isn't a strong suit here in the states but then what would you expect from an education system based on a government monopoly? Given the constant complaining about poor education, I'm amazed by some peoples desire for a government run health care system. Sure it might work in Denmark! or even The Netherlands ;-) but compare gubbermints and ask yourself if you really want Mitch McConnell or Nancy Pelosi pulling the strings.

      2. TeeCee Gold badge

        Here's a fine example of this at work.

        A colleague once went into a diner in the US of A.

        Waitress: <Heavy Drawl> "Gee. I just looove your ack-sent. You must be from Ing-ga-land!"

        Colleague: "No, I'm from New Zealand actually".

        Waitress: <Smugly> "Gee, doncha know it? I just knew it hadda be somewhere around there!"

        Thus were the new rules of geography formed, in which there are only actually two places on the planet. America and "somewhere around England".

        1. Mike Flugennock

          I have to admit...

          ...that I often confused a NZ accent for Australian until I heard the two "side-by-side" -- that is, a New Zealander and an Australian in conversation.

          As I recall, the NZ accent is a bit "twangier", and they don't "spread out" their vowels quite as much.

      3. JShel
        FAIL

        Apparently, so is language...

        Sorry, but if you want to act superior and smug in pointing out the errors of others, you may want to understand the language you are using in your attempt to belittle them..

        GEOGRAPHY is obviously what you should have said. In the US, TOPOGRAPHY relates to the physical features of the land. Geography refers not only to the physical features, but also the geopolitical as well. Not knowing the human construct of Austria, therefore has nothing to do with topography, which in the most general description is topographically mountainous.

        Yes, Americans knowledge of the world is pretty lousy, but you demonstrate that being an ass knows no bounds.

        And, to finish off in your own tone, I assume you would not mind if I refer to you as a lowlife, since you come from the lowlands?

      4. elderlybloke
        IT Angle

        Topography ??

        I think you mean Geography.

        What has happened to education , not like when I was a boy etc.

    5. Anonymous Coward
      Pint

      RE: Winter hibernation? Austrians Love to BBQ?

      "Hasn't summer just ended down under?"

      Arnie's Autralian accent is subtle to...

  7. Pascal Monett Silver badge

    Call Hollywood

    This requires a feature-film adaptation. May I suggest a working title ? Street View Zombies takes my fancy.

    1. ravenviz Silver badge
      Coat

      Re: Call Hollywood

      How about "A Nightmare on Elm Streetview"?

    2. Andrew Peake
      Coat

      Re Call Hollywood

      How about A Street View Car Named Desire?

    3. Baskitcaise

      Call Hollywood

      The Zombies took your fancy what?

      Where?

      How?

      Maybe you can find it on Google maps... Oh...

  8. bill 36

    dyslexia rools ko

    There are no kangaroos in Austria.

    It's hardly surprising that some of my mail (the original type) goes missing. It's probably floating in Sydney harbour

    1. Eddy Ito
      Coat

      But how do you know?

      "... my mail (the original type)..."

      Could it not have been handwritten?

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    "Keep out of my basement!

    ...and away from my family" He yells as he gets rid of the intrusive geek mobile.

    (I'll get my coat before anyone figures out what I'm implying about Austrians)

    1. HFoster
      Thumb Up

      LOL!

      I'll have to show this post to my colleague!

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Coat

      BRB..

      ..basement.

  10. Stephen Bungay

    I don't understand...

    Google is driving around taking pictures... so what? Tourists take pictures all the time... would the elderly gentleman have gone after a tourist snapping photos? I think he would not have, unless he really is a nutter.

    Google isn't spying on any one person or group of persons, they are making a ground-level photographic record of what a place looked like at a particular point in time. Imagine if we had this kind of record when the pyramids were being built? Or if you could walk through the streets of London through the ages to see how it has changed?

    People are reacting to Google as if they were an arm of the secret service, keeping tabs on their comings and goings, spying on their every move, invading their daily-lives. All of those things might be true of the police-monitored CCTV system in the UK and elsewhere, but IMHO it is certainly not the case with the Google Streetview camera car.

    1. Anonymous Vulture
      Flame

      Google != Secret Service

      Google may not be an arm of the secret service, but they certainly are on more than speaking terms with them. If it was a ground level photographic record of what a place looked like at a particular point in time maintained by say, the British Museum or American Smithsonian? That would be a lot more innocuous than by a company that "wants to know everything about you", and has a vested interested in keeping governments of all different political bents happy.

      I'm fairly privacy conscious, and wish the Founders had put something a little more clear into the Constitution with regards to personal privacy. But in an era when you could walk a hundred yards away from others, check the bushes, and be confident of having a private conversation, it probably didn't come up.

    2. Eddy Ito

      Clearer?

      The typical tourist doesn't supply a map to world + dog pointing out those places which might be soft targets for criminal behavior either. I can understand why such an action might provoke a bit of paranoia in people. CCTV on the other hand is the sure sign that paranoia is one of the prime movers in government.

  11. gimbal
    FAIL

    Yeah, because it's got nothing to do with ...

    ...illustrating simple street directions. I mean, the man with the pickaxe didn't like it, so clearly It must be political.

    What are these people thinking, though? It seems utterly boggling, from here.

  12. Peter Murphy
    Pint

    I hope the cops let him off with a caution.

    It's not behavior to emulate, but neither is it something you throw the book at him for.

    Beer - because I'd shout him one.

  13. Anonymous Coward
    Black Helicopters

    and thats before.....

    You consider that the "patriot act" allows the US government unfettered access to any data held by a US company, even if that data relates to other countries.

    So Google has done the worlds largest data gathering activity on behalf of the US government, and people wonder how they got away with it!

    Black Helicopters for obvious reasons

  14. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Oztrians

    Want to know why Australia has the kangaroos?

    Simple, they were given first choice.

    1. M Gale
      Badgers

      ^^WTF?

      But they'll be dead soon anyway.

      Fucking kangaroos.

  15. Alistair Wall
    Headmaster

    Kangaroos in Austria

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4813976.stm

  16. bexley

    topography

    actually i think that topography is a perfectly reasonable term to use in describing the american insular societies lack of understanding of the location of those other places that have shit armies and bad food.

    I met a speitc a few weeks ago in Belize who told me he hated the UK because we actually ate grilled tomatoes. I was surprised that this was all he could come up with and concluded that he must just be a moron.

    from merriam-webster

    : the art or practice of graphic delineation in detail usually on maps or charts of natural and man-made features of a place or region especially in a way to show their relative positions and elevations

  17. Sam Tana
    WTF?

    How the...?

    Old Giffer: "I noticed this weird car on the road. I told the driver to make a move but he just didn’t listen. So I grabbed my pickaxe and ran after him."

    So let's get this straight.

    1: He told Google Guy to move (this suggests Google Mobile was stationary).

    2: Google Guy "didn't listen" (this suggests the car remained stationary).

    3: Giffer "ran after" the apparently stationary Google Mobile and tried to attack it with a pickaxe.

    4: Neighbours subdued Giffer.

    5: Somehow, Google are the bad guys in all this?

    WTF?

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