Google’s StreetView project is no stranger to controversy and privacy concerns, and the company has many times crossed on the edge of trespassing and entering private property to film houses, yards, cars and children at play.
This time however, some community residents decided to take their own action against Google, and roadblocked a Google StreetView car from entering their community.
Last week as a Google car entered the small English community of Broughton, residents got together and set up a physical roadblock, stopping the Google StreetView car and blocking it from photographing their village, then called the police to have the Google StreetView car removed (Google reportedly hightailed it out of there before the police arrived).
Resident Paul Jacobs, who got together the group, told the BBC (via DigitalTrends) :
“I don’t have a problem with Google wanting to promote villages. What I have a problem with is the invasion of privacy, taking pictures directly into the home. Google have taken a tremendous liberty in the way they’ve gone about it. If they were simply going to view the street as a street scene rather than drive almost into people’s drives and take pictures of the houses – I think that’s a different issue.“
