back to article Google boss: 'Creeped out by Street View? Just move'

Google CEO Eric Schmidt has said that if you don't like Google Street View cars photographing your house, you can "just move." “Street View. We drive exactly once,” Schmidt said during an appearance on CNN's “Parker Spitzer" late last week. “So, you can just move, right?” Schmidt's words were broadcast across the net on …

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  1. John Smith 19 Gold badge
    Happy

    Do Schmidt and Zuckerberg have a bet?

    To see which one can creep the most people out?

    BTW Logic suggests that once *any* player has a monopoly on *your* personal information then they can use it to the hilt.

    Spread the searches around. Mix up the sources. I'd suggest don't click on the google results (is there a plug in to do that. There should).

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Big Brother

    Is that a cross between a buffoon and a balloon?

    I prefer baffalloon

    Incidently, I would like to see them stick to their self-proclaimed “Street View. We drive exactly once,” on dead end streets.

    Still need multiple icons, if only for these evil jokers

    1. webster phreaky ate my iphone
      Heart

      Surely

      a baffoon is a cross between a buffoon and baboon?

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Black Helicopters

    Cheeky Psychopath

    It is not possible to go up to such a subtle and gray line, and not cross it, so he's talking BS.

    If he laughs about it, he obviously doesn't care, so he must be a Psychopath; there are more around than people realise and most probably don't kill people, at least not directly!

    Google can go to hell, along with all the other snooping marketers, I'm running NoScript, RequestPolicy, and Adblocker+ because these idiots don't care about discretion, and provide and encourage other businesses to just blast us with excessive metrics collectors and advertising, many of which carry malware! Some popular sites seem to have more metrics collectors, advert URLs and bandwidth, than actual content!

  4. hexx

    is it just me

    or this guy is really a dick?

    1. gollux
      Thumb Down

      Yep, he is...

      and no, he doesn't care. And neither would you if you made the money he makes. He can afford privacy when he wants it, sorry you can't.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    WTF?

    Sorry but ....

    I don't get it (still). Its a search engine, nothing more. It logs my searches? who gives a crap! They keep it for x years that I looked for 'mud wrestling llamas' or whatever? I couldn't give a monkeys!! and if you think Bing is going to be any different .... anyone ask how long THEY keep search data for?

    As for street view, well, I'm (still) not bothered that my house is on the internet because, as far as everyone else is concerned, you know, its JUST SOMEONES HOUSE LIKE THE MILLIONS OF OTHERS ON THE SITE, and, also of course ITS A BIG FRICKING SOLID STRUCTURE VIEWABLE BY ANYONE WHO WALKS ALONG THE STREET!! In fact, I can't believe that street view is STILL some sort of massive bone of contention to some people. Didn't we get over this yet?

    1. Sir Runcible Spoon

      Sir

      "They keep it for x years that I looked for 'mud wrestling llamas' or whatever?"

      When you start searching for something that could be considered personal, you might get the point about privacy.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Big Brother

        Good grief

        "They keep it for x years that I looked for 'mud wrestling llamas' or whatever?"

        "When you start searching for something that could be considered personal, you might get the point about privacy."

        oh please, because I think you're over-reacting I don't >understand< about privacy? Perhaps I search for personal things all the time, as I highly doubt that anyone at Google, from the lowest phone-lackey to the most top bod would be even the slightest bit interested in what >I<, myself, me has been looking for, at least from the point of view you are worried about, such as thinking that for some reason they are singling out YOU and WATCHING YOUR EVERY MOVE. Yet you probably think that some other search engine leaves you perfectly safe.

        Lets clarify a couple of things here:

        1. How do you know about other search engine retention policy? How do you know that its correct or accurate? Or even true? If you are worried about Google tracking your searches and identifying you, you should probably just stop using the net. Period.

        2. Your card company, supermarket and countless other organisations have almost certainly got a lot more 'data' on you than Google will ever have. And they KNOW who you are.

        Where's that tin-foil-hat icon gone then?

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Pint

      Whoa whoa, chill pill time!

      The debate is not Google as such, but Schmit being a complete, well Schmit. Telling you to simply move if you don't want a piccy of your abode available for all to see.

      I don't mind most of what Google does, but I do have a problem with CEO's sitting in ivory towers, who think just 'cos they can drop everything on a whim and do what they like 'cos they have a pot-load, we all can. I like the area I live in, for the most part I like my house, could do with an extra room, but hey-ho. However I cannot simply move on a whim, upset my kid's education, get my Missus to give up her job and leave all my friends and family behind. I can't afford it and I have far more important things to do with my time.

  6. Shonko Kid
    Jobs Horns

    "just move"

    He has obviously been hanging around Jobs for too long. Just as well he was forced to quit the Apple board, it's for his own good!

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    "the satirical US news program The Colbert Report"

    The Colbert Report's not satirical. Duh!

  8. DrM
    WTF?

    Why is he lying??

    He says they drive just once. Why is he lying about this? My street in Dayton, Ohio has a fresh set of photos as of a month ago. My new carport, different views of the house.

    Why more lies????

  9. Version 1.0 Silver badge
    Happy

    Many people believe it

    You might be surprised just how many people believe that Google Earth and the Satellite view in Google maps is a real "spy-in-the-sky" ... I know people who refuse to sunbath now because of Google ... they believe that they can be seen from the sky or by some Google car driving by.

    Don't believe me - Google (yes I know) for "Cajun Onstar" and listen to the conversation ...

  10. Stuart Castle Silver badge

    If Streetview is only going to be updated once..

    What is the point? If you look at the average street over 5-10 years, it can change massively. If Google are only going to take the photos once, then in those 5-10 years, a lot of their image database is going to be out of date.

    If that's the case, then not only have they spent millions of pounds creating a database with no real use (be honest, how often have you actually *used* streetview for something useful? Not often, I bet), but they've spent those millions creating that database and it's going to be be out of data in a couple of years.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Go

      @Stuart Castle

      You raise a good point about the worth of out-of-date images, but I do use streetview a fair bit before going to a previously unvisited are or address to look for landmarks etc. to help navigate the route. Very handy.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Have you tried maps?

        They're much easier to use, they cost much less than a computer, you can take them with you on your journey and look at them on the way, and when you get to your destination, you can fold them up and put them in your glove compartment. I recommend them.

        If it's the new technology that you want then you could try Sat Nav, which literally tells you what to do, and in real time.

        Street View pales into insignificance by comparison with these methods -- unless you want to peek over people's garden fences.

  11. Deivid

    I like how..

    ..he refers to the people that want their houses removed as 'users'. I guess they will definitely be once they have to 'use' googles removal tool.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Real purpose of the removal tools

      Obviously, to get more info on who exactly lives there.

  12. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    So I get to the end of this piece

    and realise that all it is is a monotonous and largely repetitive rant which seems to have been spat out due to a knee-jerk reaction that Cade Metz has to anything said by Schmidt. Basically, the man made a joke - actually better than most of his jokes - and that was that. Enough of this reactionary nonsense, Metz - you have some good points (which you tirelessly repeat, lest we all forget that the End is Nigh) but you devalue them by being such a street-corner raver.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Joke

      Aw, come on...

      ...the 'chocolate factory' and 'oompa loompa' jokes are as creative and fresh the 100th time as they were the first!

  13. dak
    Thumb Down

    "We drive exactly once" - Really?

    Depending on which angle you view my house from the pictures were taken on at least three occasions, several months apart.

    Does he really not know what his company is doing?

  14. JeffyPooh
    Joke

    Here's what I do...

    I regularly visit websites and webpages concerning topics of which I have absolutely no interest. They *think* that They can read my mind, but They're being fooled.

    Mall*Wart once boasted that they could retrace a shopper's route through the store based on their purchases. Ever since then I've been spelling out obscene words and laying down rude images. It costs a small forture, but it's worth it...

  15. The Fuzzy Wotnot
    Pint

    What a tool!

    OK Shitz or whatever your name is, so you find the perfect spot, the land took 2 years to get your hands on, the $30M mansion took 18 months to build, someone takes pictures of you and the kids, you would just move eh? Like f**k! You'd have every ropey lawyer you could find, out and nailing the photographer in the nearest courthouse!

    Same for us mate! Stick your prying lens up your data-servers, you wouldn't just move and neither would we. You wouldn't like it, neither do we!

    What a complete fapping bell-end!

  16. Ist alles doof

    Schmidt is a publicity engine

    Gobby kraut spouts polemic...

    Oooh! Look how many column inches we're getting.

    Valuation metric: Press^2

    Doesn't matter if it's positive or negative, it's all publicity.

  17. This post has been deleted by its author

  18. Anonymous Coward
    Stop

    It's not harmless

    The vantage point of Street View is that of a passer-by on a ladder. Not many of those in my neighbourhood.

    A relative of mine living in a high-crime area has had their security compromised by SV simply because, while it is impossible to see their security measures when walking by (even when leaping into the air), SV peers over an particularly high wall.

    Members of the burglaring community can study such things at leisure and plan accordingly.

    1. tim 13
      FAIL

      So? Drive past in lorry and you will be able to see the same

      Or that double decker bus which stops outside my house

      1. Anonymous Coward
        FAIL

        Yes, but ...

        The magic of Street View is that it brings unlimited and free snooping to the comfort and privacy of millions of homes. There's no need to rent a lorry or wait for a bus.

  19. Anonymous Coward
    WTF?

    We can change name, he can have history re-written

    So let me understand. If I post a picture of myself wearing a thong, I must change name and have plastic surgery to disappear from Google's cache while this idiot can have CNN to edit out the bits where he shows his stupidity and have history written to save his face.

  20. Anonymous Coward
    Big Brother

    Get a room, Schmidt and Zuckerberg!

    Preferably in view of Street View, so that anyone who wants to watch may do so.

  21. Joe User

    Mister Tactless strikes again!

    Someone dig up Eric Schmidt's street address. I want to see if the tactless twit's house is on Street View or not.

  22. Joe User

    Eric Schmidt's home address

    366 Walsh Road

    Atherton, California

    Google Maps has a nice aerial view of his $3.4 million house, but no street view.

    Hypocrite.

  23. Anonymous Coward
    Big Brother

    My place of residence

    Doesn't show up on street view, so I'm not too bothered. That said, it does have a good view from satellite imagery. A report on Sky News the other day had some guy apologising for "accidentally" sniffing unsecure wireless networks whilst the Googlemobiles were gathering data in London. Why the did this, he didn't say. Maybe they'll belch out stats for last year. Their business is data use/transfer, but retention is a matter for individual governments. Folk know where you are just by your IP address. If my posts are cross referenced with the IP address, along with data I have previously posted, anyone could easily work out where I am, what I'm doing (more specifically what I'm searching for and whether I find it). That's one of the reasons I'm wary of sending CV's/resumes over the interweb. I refuse to use websites storage facilites as they can (and have been) hacked. See that stuff elsewhere on El Reg. Now you know I'm looking for a job.

  24. Andrew Taylor 1
    Flame

    Easy bluff to call

    All it takes is for some of our American friends to meet up outside Mountain View with camera's & monitoring equipment then see Google's re-action, after all what's good for the goose................

  25. gollux
    Grenade

    Eric "Privacy is useless" Schmidt

    Good old "privacy doesn't exist anymore" Eric Schmidt pontificating again?

    He needs to start paying into a fund for those people who should move. He's obviously got the stuff by the truckfull to spend moving around himself...

    Presenting the all new and shiny "Eric Schmidt" move me because Google compromised my Identity Fund... Ought to find a few takers.

  26. Joe User
    Flame

    Re: Easy bluff to call

    Google, Inc.

    1600 Amphitheatre Parkway

    Mountain View, California

    Nice satellite view, but no street view. Apparently, Google's rules apply to everyone but themselves....

  27. Anonymous Coward
    Megaphone

    Amazed no-one has mentioned this

    SCROOGLE !

  28. Seanmon

    "We drive exactly once"

    So how come I saw one of the big eyeballmobiles this very morning on exactly the same road I saw my first one a year or so ago?

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