Mob Keeps Google Street View Car From Taking Pictures

Be proactive: rather than protest the inclusion of your residence in Google's Street View with a lawsuit afterwards, keep the Street View car from taking pictures in the first place. That's what happened in the U.K., in Broughton, in Buckinghamshire, where a mob kept a Street View car from taking pictures.

Apparently it is a rather affluent area, but had been subject to some burglaries of late, and thus the residents were hypersensitive. From their comments, they were concerned, for one, that pictures of their neighborhood might encourage further crime, as Paul Jacobs told the Times Online:

“I was upstairs when I spotted the camera car driving down the lane. My immediate reaction was anger; how dare anyone take a photograph of my home without my consent? I ran outside to flag the car down and told the driver he was not only invading our privacy but also facilitating crime.

“This is an affluent area. We’ve already had three burglaries locally in the past six weeks. If our houses are plastered all over Google it’s an invitation for more criminals to strike. I was determined to make a stand, so I called the police.”

Google only recently launched Street View in the U.K. It has been criticized by both citizens and organizations such as Privacy International.

Jacobs ran around the village, rousing fellow residents. While he also called the police, the villagers stood in the road. The driver eventually turned around and left.