Those people are steeped in bling. Check it out:
Fearing the appearance of their well appointed properties on the Web site would attract criminals scouting for burglary targets, villagers in Broughton, north of London, summoned the police after spotting the car.
The car being the Goolge Camera Car that puts the street level view on Google Maps.
"I was upstairs when I spotted the camera car driving down the lane," resident Paul Jacobs told The Times of London.
"The lane." That makes me laugh.
"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.
A 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."
Ah. The crime. The crime of having no dough.
Hat Tip: Bioephemera
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One of Google's cars/vans came through here in October of last year (though I didn't see it), but didn't visit much of the area. They got a few of the major roads going through town, but no more. The funny part is that this particular area is very poorly imaged on Google's satellite view. I did manage to see one of my neighbors driving by in a street view shot near my workplace. He was quite amazed when I showed it to him.
They think they own the light.
I wonder if they go equally berserk when people just look at their houses?
I have no sympathy for this kind of idiocy - as though burglars spend their time window-shopping on Google, before breaking in. Burglars almost always opportunists, and will be much more concerned about whether or not a house is adequately secured and if they can approach it out of clear sight. I don't see how this detailed information would be avialable via Street View.
Still, I don't see why you find "lane" so amusing; it simply means a small (narrow) country road.
@Bernard - It could equally refer to a relatively busy main road, of course. I don't know if that's why Greg finds it amusing but..
I wonder if this guy campaigns against the 'for sale' section of the local newspaper too? PICTURES! IT IS LIKE FOOD FOR BURGLARS
The people have no claim to google not photographing from the street, that is public space - they can plant hedges if they don't like it.
But why the snark over "lane"?
Looking at the google map it is a small village with one main road and several lanes off it. So most of the houses will be on a properly named "lane".
We Americans just think that words like "wee" and "lane" are cute.
I totally agree- why the concern about the Googlemobile? The pictures it provides give you even less information than if you were just standing on-site, or even just casually walking by. And especially in the UK, the land of CCTV's, the concern seems blown way out of proportion.
At any rate, looks like Google won the legal battle... http://www.newsy.com/videos/privacy_in_the_age_of_google/