Smile, you're on Google

By most measures, western Sonoma County is considered pretty remote.

Driving down its ribbon-thin roads, rolling through the long shadows of tall redwoods, people gain a certain sense of seclusion and privacy.

But some are now wondering if Google killed that feeling -- at least in part -- after it posted to the Web in June thousands of detailed photos taken along county roads.

"I think 'creepy' is a good word," said Mike Ming, whose rural home outside Occidental was photographed in detail.

In fact, Google entered private property in at least one instance to take photos of people's homes.

Google's new online map tool, Street View, lets anyone with an Internet connection view panoramic photos taken on some of Sonoma County's most isolated roads and look at some of its most secluded homes.

The 360-degree photos were taken all across Sonoma County using a high-tech camera mounted atop a car. Google captured an array of images, from schools and homes to tree forts and malls. It covered most of the roads from eastern Sonoma County to the Pacific Ocean -- and nearly all the cities in between.

Last year, Google took heat from privacy advocates when it launched Street View in San Francisco, New York, Denver, Las Vegas and Miami. Critics pointed to the lack of privacy afforded a man seen standing in front of a San Francisco strip club or a couple of young women captured sunbathing near the Stanford campus.

Google satisfied some critics when it recently deployed a technology that automatically blurs faces and license plates. But its latest venture into more-rural areas created a new controversy.

Up a single-lane road outside Freestone, Google went past a gate with a "no trespassing" sign and captured images on private property. Several residences can be seen on the property, including an up-close shot of someone's living room window.

"I like my privacy, and this feels like an invasion of that," said Janet Tobin, who lives on the property. "My friends already know how to get here. I don't need the whole world coming to my door."

In April, a Pittsburgh couple sued Google for driving up their private road and taking detailed photos of their home. While Google took the photos down, the images still are available online because other Web sites copied and retained the shots.

Street View, which is free to use, now covers numerous small cities and enclaves in the North Coast, from Petaluma and Napa all the way north to Ukiah. Google also has expanded into other rural parts of the country, such as southeastern Wisconsin. But its coverage of rural Northern California, which was primarily launched in June, appears to be its most comprehensive.

Unlike satellite images, which have been available for years on sites run by Google, Microsoft and even the city of Santa Rosa, these new images are taken from the ground.

Sometime within the last year -- Google declined to say when -- the Internet king sent its roving car-mounted cameras to canvass Sonoma County, capturing images of people standing in their yards, taking out their dogs or just otherwise enjoying the seclusion of small communities ranging from Kenwood to Camp Meeker and out to Fort Ross.

Images can be viewed by going to www.google.com, clicking on 'Maps,' clicking on 'Street View,' and then clicking on any road that is highlighted in blue.

Strangely, much of Santa Rosa has not been photographed, while nearly every stretch of road in Camp Meeker and Monte Rio has.

Other cities are thoroughly photographed, including Petaluma, Sonoma, Rohnert Park, Windsor, Guerneville, Occidental, Cazadero and Timber Cove.

Google spokeswoman Elaine Filadelfo declined to say why some areas were photographed and others left uncovered. But she said the company is branching out well beyond big cities.

"We're not just trying to do the major metro areas; we're trying to get these small towns too," Filadelfo said.

As for photographing on private property, she said the company tries to avoid it.

"It is our policy to only gather photos on public roads," she said. "We'll certainly take down images taken on private property."

But once the images are online, it can become impossible for Google to stop their reproduction on other Web sites.

"This is not the first time this incidence has come up," said Kurt Opsahl, senior staff attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, an Internet watchdog group.

But so far it's been rare, he said. If Google has only trespassed twice, then it's not a huge concern, Opsahl said.

"But if this is only the tip of the iceberg, then with each additional incident it becomes more troubling," he said.

To be sure, the technology is incredibly cool. Tourists and residents can use Street View to find and visualize some of the county's more remote wineries and other attractions. But it is also a voyeur's dream.

"There are always going to be some concerns with these large-scale mapping projects," said Rebecca Jeschke, a spokeswoman for the Electronic Frontier Foundation. "It does show the tension between the cool technology and the privacy concerns."