Furor over Google views reignites

<p>Even after the Internet giant removed the images that ignited the ruckus, new examples emerged Monday that show Google repeatedly trespassed on private roads to photograph rural homes in Sonoma County.</p><p>The images, first reported Saturday in The Press Democrat, set off a furor in cyberspace and in Sonoma County. Privacy advocates debated on blogs and in Internet forums while people in Sonoma County questioned whether Google had overstepped by sharing photographs of their homes with the rest of the world.</p><p>The debate centers on Google Street View, a component of its online map tool that gives Internet users a panoramic view of places around the world using images taken with a high-tech camera mounted atop a roving car.</p><p>Google took heat from privacy advocates a year ago when it launched the controversial map tool in five major cities, including San Francisco and New York.</p><p>Some of the original privacy debate died down after Google began blurring faces and license plates captured in images. But its inability to stay off private property while photographing has reinvigorated critics.</p><p>"The only recourse for a consumer is to constantly check the Google Web site to see if their privacy has been invaded," said John Verdi, staff counsel for the Washington-based Electronic Privacy Information Center, a nonprofit advocate group. "Google has either not made attempts to vet private roads or gated communities, or have not been successful at doing it."</p><p>The company aims to photograph every public road in the world, spokeswoman Elaine Filadelfo said. Google instructs its drivers to stay off private roads, but Filadelfo would not provide details on other measures to prevent its roaming cameras from venturing onto private property.</p><p>"Our drivers are instructed to be very cautious," she said.</p><p>But more trespassing blunders came to light Monday as Sonoma County residents examined the map tool. Images revealed a Google car drove up private roads in the Sonoma Valley and a rural area outside Petaluma.</p><p>Residents of Repetto Ranch Road just outside Sonoma were surprised to discover Google had driven down their private road and photographed homes.</p><p>To the west near Petaluma, Google's car drove through open gates on Willie Bird Way and up the driveway of a home on the property, capturing images the entire way.</p><p>A story published Saturday in The Press Democrat revealed Google drove past a "no trespassing" sign and onto private property outside of Freestone to collect images.</p><p>This revelation spurred a fiery debate on the popular technology news Web site SlashDot.org. Readers posted more than 600 comments on the site, many of them wondering if Google would accidentally expose rural residents who were legally growing pot under the county and state medicinal marijuana laws.</p><p>Google has been photographing Sonoma County for more than a year, capturing an array of images, from schools and homes to tree forts and malls. It published the images in June, showing most of the roads from eastern Sonoma County to the Pacific Ocean -- and nearly all the cities in between.</p><p>Surprisingly, much of Santa Rosa was not photographed, although that is likely to change. Last week, a Google Street View car was spotted in downtown Santa Rosa.</p><p>While Google has posted satellite images for years, the Street View photographs offer much more intimate views of homes and private yards.</p><p>As it expands Street View into rural areas, Google is finding it can be difficult to distinguish between public and private roads.</p><p>Google was sued by a Pittsburgh couple in April after it drove up their driveway and photographed their home. Google also had to remove photos taken in a private community on the outskirts of Minneapolis. The residents of that community own the neighborhood roads, and enforce a trespassing ordinance.</p><p>Google does not want to trespass on private property, Filadelfo said. It will remove any photographs taken from private roads upon request, she said.</p><p>"It's completely unintentional," Filadelfo said.</p><p>Filadelfo was not sure if Google provided its drivers with maps that identified private roads. She also did not know if Google retained copies of images taken from private property after the photos were identified and removed from Google's site.</p><p>The Street View blunders are casting a negative light on Google's commitment to privacy, Verdi said. That might be an unsettling thought for many Internet users, who expose personal information to the company every day when they use its popular search engine, free e-mail service and its document reader.</p><p>"They need to find a way to fix this," Verdi said.</p><p>Filadelfo said she could understand why people felt that way but insisted people should focus on the strengths of Street View.</p><p>"It can be very beneficial for users," she said.</p><p>Sonoma County residents are split on the benefits of the service.</p><p>"It makes me really paranoid," said Jewly Johnson, whose Timber Cove house was photographed from a public road. "It's a matter of safety. I don't feel safe anymore."</p><p>Jeff Lester, a real estate agent from Camp Meeker, said it was a great tool for him professionally.</p><p>"It helps me show clients properties," he said. "You can sort of get a lay of the land that wasn't possible before."</p><p>You can reach Nathan Halverson at 521-5494 or nathan.halverson@pressdemocrat.com.</p>