Asking Google to remove your home from Maps Street View
A Minneapolis suburb has become the first area in the US to ask Google to remove them from Google Maps Street View, after they complained that Google had violated their privacy. Google immediately complied.
Not many people may know that if you want your property images removed from Google Maps Street View, you can file a request with Google to have it done and Google will comply. Here is how you do it.
Go to Google Maps, click on “street view” and find the offending image.   I have chosen a random image in New York for my example.
At the top of the image, you will see “Street View Help”. Â Click on that. Â Â When the next box comes up, click on “report inappropriate image” at the bottom.
You’ll be asked to then explain the reason why you are complaining, the exact problem and you also have to zoom in exactly on the part of the picture that you find objectionable. Â Â Then submit your complaint.
I haven’t been able to find any details of how long it takes for Google to process your complaint so if anyone reading this has filed a complaint like this, perhaps they can tell us in the comments how long it took them?
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Privacy Violation???
As long as Google is not going into restricted areas nothing is being presented that cannot be seen by anyone driving down the same street.
I feel that removing the view is no different than telling me that I may not drive down a public access street and look at the houses lining the street — the same goes for individual residences.
If I can walk by it, or drive by it, or fly over it the same view should be available to Google users, paparazzi etc.
Google —- think it over before you delete the information. You are being BS-oogled on this point.
I requested they remove my home’s picture from their street view, because to be quite honest, it does present not only privacy concerns, but security issues. What’s next, live satellite imagery of our every move?! Get lost Google, go find something else to do that might actually improve this world.
Privacy Issues???
Of course it’s an issue of privacy! Just because you’re not violating the law by taking pictures of my house, it doesn’t mean I want you to. You may not be violating a Privacy Law, however Google is violating my own Privacy.
Unless I give you permission to take a photo of my house then you shouldn’t. It’s my house.. my property.. my privacy.. my right.
If you walk by and take a photo of my house and post it on the web, you bet I’ll confront you. WHY? Like I said.. it’s my house, not yours.. if you want your house posted on the internet, so be it, it’s your business. But leave my property out of it. Unless you want to make my mortgage for me.
You Go Basil! I totally agree. I found my house on Google today and promptly asked them to remove it, citing privacy reasons. To me, there is just something wrong about a vehicle driving down our street with a 360-degree camera mounted on top that is continually taking pictures and then Google puts the pictures out on the web. You are so right – my house, not Google’s – they have no right to post this. It’s one thing for someone to drive down the street and look at the house or see the house – but for Google to not only drive by, but to take a picture and then publish it – that’s not right. No permission asked, no permission granted.
js402
I live in a holiday town – 10% of the houses are empty for most of the year, rents are sky high and homeless people are in their thousands.
Now with Google street view we can find the empty homes (check the lawn for junk mail) and point the homeless in that direction. We live in a sub tropical climate so there’s no need for squatting or breaking into the home, the homeless can sleep on the patio – usually on bedding there, most seaside homes have showers outside and running water, some even have BBQs hooked up to gas, everything a homeless person would want.
Good onya Google for giving the homeless a chance to get somewhere to live.
How do we go about removing photo of my house on google street. No one asked me for permission to take a snap shot of my house. This is a privacy invasion…….. who do i sue? How dare they?
You don’t sue anyone. This is not a privacy violation. If you are doing something you are ashamed of you should make sure to close your shades. This is a great way for people who cannot afford to see an area to go to it from their homes. If I go to somewhere new I love to walk/drive up and down the streets and look at the houses. Different areas have different architecture, character, etc. Get over it. There is nothing wrong with this at all. And about the homless people… I’m pretty sure they have a good idea about where they can and can’t go already. If you leave your home for an extended period of time you should take your furniture inside and turn your water off. That’s common sense, if you don’t then you are just asking for it.
Just because it’s legal does not make it right, this will only lead on to more an more advanced technology that will eventually be live video feed, you say no that’s illegal you can’t do that but by the time it’s implemented all these privacy invasions will be accepted socially.
Don’t like google view?
sign this petition.
If you do then don’t, forget me an go on living.
http://www.petitiononline.com/sgsv2022/petition.html
Hey Andrew,
Bet you don’t have children! Our home shows the cars we drive, our kids toys and bikes in the driveway & a picture of our front door open for all to see!
If there are child molesters looking for a score, gotta love a Search Engine that shows pervs all the local neighborhood houses with kid paraphernalia in the yard!
Lookin’ for a lawsuit, Google???
I dont like how they show my property, anything off the street is my own and that includes privacy. There making money with ads on the site anyways and im not getting anything from them, also my truck is out while im at work for every joe blow to look at. What if there is some scumbag thief that randomly goes down streets with Google trying to find a vehicle to steal or strip, they have my house picture and address they can sell to other people. Whats next callers wanting to buy my truck or paint my house because they can see it on google. Just black my property out.
I just left the post yesterday, they removed me its about 10 houses both directions they just black out the whole screen, thanks google.
that’s good to know, thanks for sharing Mike!
I keep going in circles trying to get the photo of my home removed. Maybe I am missing something. How exactly can I ask google to remove this. The form states that you cannot ask for removal in this manner and the automated response says the same thing. Help please!
There seem to be a lot of over reactions and paranoia here !!
Thats all I can say.
I can assure you that you are not important enough for anyone to go out of their way to look for your house on google. If you were important enough they would go to it and photograph it anyway.
Oh my god! what about missing the point of decent human behavior an actually asking people if they want their houses posted on the web to millions, if you accept this more an more invasions of privacy will be in your life until eventually being watched 24 – 7. DON’T SAY IT’S NOT ILLEGAL IT’S NOT ABOUT THAT, JUST BECAUSE IT’S LEGAL DOES NOT MEAN IT IS RIGHT!!!
Sign it!
http://www.petitiononline.com/mod_perl/signed.cgi?sgsv2022
Already my home has been buglarized, so privacy/security IS an issue. I also have “private property/no trespassing/Posted” signs. I receive NO benefit from this violation. It’s one thing for individuals to walk/drive buy, quite another thing for the whole world to see and case out my home. My ex-stalker will love to check me out on this! Thanks Google – I can now be stalked again!
I agree with Luke! Sign the petition and let’s go from there.
If Google insist on taking photos of people’s homes, then they should accept the responsibility of being liable if a crime is committed using Google Map Street View.
Identity theft is also a problem, you can describe anyone’s house and address when u live half way across the world, can see number plates, and then can flip out a directory and get the last name of the people living in the house. It is quite ridiculous.
I live in a private neighborhood – where the streets are owned by the HOA (Home Owner’s Association). We have to pay for our own street maintenance & get no “public” funds for any of the maintenance of our neighborhood. There is a sign at the only entrance to the neighborhood which informs visitors that this is a private neighborhood.
Yet, it appears that the Google mapping people have completely ignored this – and posted street level images of all the homes in the neighborhood.
The HOA is concerned with the crime that occurs while homeowners are at work – the neighborhood is practically deserted during working hours (as can been seen on the photographs).
Do we have a right to ask them to remove these images?
of course it’s a violation of privacy and against the law. you can’t take a photo of someones house, in australia without their permission. google is using this for commercial gain.
so therefore, you can’t do it.
class action anyone?
illegal google maps street view. illegal.
This is ridiculous. If you’re concerned about privacy, have Google remove the picture. But I seriously doubt that many people are scouring the Internet looking for YOUR house. I use Street View recreationally and, like someone posted above, I love to look up and down the streets of far away locations to check out the architecture. I couldn’t care less about the details and I never spend more than a few seconds looking at any one house. Trust me that very few people who use Street View use it for fun like I do. Most people are going to use it for practical reasons like checking out an area to move, or finding a new doctor’s office, or looking to see if a garage sale they plan to visit is in a good area. Remember there are now probably millions of homes pictured in Street View. What makes you think the “whole world” is interested in your little corner of the world?
Sure, there are going to be people who use Street View for opportunistic reasons. But those people will do what they do anyway. Besides, they can drive up and down your street and do a much better job of casing it that way. They can even take pictures and probably do so without anyone noticing. At least that way they’d get high resolution pictures (in the U.S. the imagery is at fairly low resolution).
Oh, and about the street people using Street View to find an empty house. You gotta be kidding me. So, street people are toting laptops around with wireless Internet access are they? Sure, they can get to it via a library computer, but how many of them do you think really do visit their libraries for purposes of getting onto the ‘net and finding empty property? They are a lot more likely to accomplish that by walking the streets. Come on! The risk isn’t great enough to outweigh the benefits of Street View.
Oh, and Crime Victim. So, you interviewed your burglar and found they used Street View to burgle your house, did you? And a stalker can find you without Street View pretty easily. If they know your address, they can find you. They don’t need Street View for that.
Try, the first household that gets burglarized, molested, kidnapped or stalked because the perpetrator used Google street view as its resource sues Google, not for privacy issues, but for criminal or civil negligence. Then Google has to go through its crisis management plan, and explain how the CEOs of Google did not foresee the ramifications of their actions. I don’t see how a jury or judge wouldn’t find them culpable. Then comes the very costly PR campaign, to get their reputation back.
PS. Google allows for magnification of your household. You could argue that a camera lens could do the same thing, but a good lawyer would argue Google made it easier for mass “scoping” easier for the criminal to pick the easiest victim, easier for the simplest of minds to conduct illegal activity. Now Google’s lawyers will argue logistics til the sun comes up, but jurors go on gut, not logic.
No, actually you can’t magnify the imagery in Google. All you can do is “zoom,” which is useless because the imagery (at least in the U.S.) is very low resolution; you can’t zoom into a higher resolution layer, like you do with Google’s satellite maps. When you zoom in closer to the house, what you see is massive blur, just like when you try to enlarge a low res image on your photo program. With most houses in Street View, you can’t make out anything inside the windows; you can’t even make out the street numbers. You have used this service, haven’t you?
Google’s lawyers can easily demonstrate the low res imagery at trial. Google’s lawyers are likely to be very gifted. And convincing. The jury questionnaire would include questions to determine potential jurors’ comfort level with technology, so in jury selection, you may get a mix of Luddites, in-betweens, and techies, depending on the location. If the jury foreman hates technology and is influential, then I think you may be right that they would side with the plaintiff, but the reverse is true as well.
You don’t own the light being reflected off of your home. Google is merely allowing that light to enter the lens of their cameras. Once that light enters the lens of their camera, THEY OWN IT!!! They own the light.
YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO TELL THEM WHAT THEY CAN AND CANNOT DO WITH LIGHT THAT ENTERS THE LENS OF THEIR CAMERAS!!
Just like the satellite images im sure the street view is at a higher resolution, they just make it lower, but who says one day in the future or some hacker gets hold of the originals then sells them to people that are a higher resolution. Theres now way to know what resolution there at, and its an invasion of privacy. I complained to google and 2 days later it was blocked out.
Privacy? It is need to care regularly, I,d like to do with minimum influence of viewer such fuzzying vehicles license plates and human faces. All photoed area is public accessible that I can at it, of course, INTERIOR of homes is NOT allowed to be posted on Internet without holder’s premission.
BTW, It has likely no security concern for regular homes. more than 999 users are legistive per 1,000 users I guess. Anyone to do bad things for it is NOT depanding only photo on Google Street View.