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RSS Feed Panorama08. 04. 10. - 09:00
'Google Street View' driver escapes axe attack
Upper Austrian police have started investigations against a 70-year-old Steyregg resident who tried to attack a "Google Street View" car driver with a pickaxe.
Officials said today (Thurs) Hermann Zach became so angry at the sight of the car on the street outside his home that he chased after its horrified driver wielding a pickaxe.
“I was working in the garden when I noticed this weird car on the road. I told the driver to make a move but he just didn’t listen. So I grabbed my pickaxe and ran after him,” Zach said.
Neighbours managed to overpower the pensioner, but started to collect signatures against the internet company’s initiative to film the town’s streets for its controversial street view service.
Google’s cars recently returned to Austrian roads after abandoning filming before winter. Dozens of vehicles issued with 360-degree cameras were reportedly parked at a site near Vienna International Airport (VIA) while the cold season had its grip on the country. Now as temperatures are rising the firm restarted shooting.
The Steyregg incident comes just days after vandals smashed up a "Google Street View" car after the driver left it parked on a street in Oldenburg, Germany.
International data protection watchdogs have criticised Google for its actions, but have so far failed to prevent the operation from going ahead.
Austrian Times
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mark tuttle wrote on 09. 04. 2010 from Semmering about "'Google Street View' driv..."
I can empathize with Hr Zach, I would have acted in a similar way if I was of his generation, and was a bit ignorant to the current state of technology, and EU/Austrian privacy rights. That said, I have found Google Streetview, both useful, and saving my time and gas... so it could be called a green initiative. Perhaps some information could have been published in the Bezirks Blatt types of papers to reduce surprise and ignorance...... The pace of innovation (from outside Austria) will continue to encroach inside of Austria for a long time... we had better get everyone used to it... Just my 2 cents from the mountains, mark
Reply
Geezer wrote on 11. 04. 2010 from Wien about "'Google Street View' driv..."
Mark, most honourable words yet I rather believe that Google is acting in a neo-colonialist manner, making much of profit pushing and little of public opinion against these voyeur-vehicles. I'd support direct democratic protest action against these Google voyeur-vehicles by throwing harmless fine icing sugar at these cars and claiming that one wanted to add fake snow to the landscape and likely put the Google-Voyeur'er off:) Google can only surely be associated with the CIA and if it is not it should be. Best regards,
Reply
Dick van der Velde wrote on 13. 04. 2010 from Netherlands about "'Google Street View' driv..."
I really, really cannot imagine people making such a fuss about this. All Streetview does is make a snapshot of some moment in time. You can have it removed if there's something in there you don't want to share with the world, but on the other hand, you wouldn't go after people who walk down your street and casually glance at your house would you? I think the reactions to Google's Streetview are way out of proportion. I think there are some real privacy issues in Europe we should be worried about instead of this snapshot that Google makes and that is viewable by anyone who really wanted to see it, just by going there...
Reply
Geezer wrote on 27. 05. 2010 from Wien about "'Google Street View' driv..."
I remain strongly of the opinion that Google is NOT acting as an innocent archivist of information for the good of humanity. Best regards,
Reply