When Search Maps Your Privacy: Online Mapping Raising Privacy Issues

[mandy]

...newly evolving local search and mapping services, where the photographic images are typically rendered as search results, make it easier than ever to scout out everything from vacation destinations to a new hairdresser.

Never before have searchable databases of detailed pictures covering wide swaths of urban areas been readily available like this to the public. And that has privacy advocates worried about the risks of such picture perfect exposure to vulnerable citizens such as women in domestic violence shelters.

...Amazon, Google and Microsoft all say they are working to expand their offerings, and perhaps even add other image-based search tools.

fully article: http://www.wirednews.com/news/wireservic..._tophead_5

[sneakymagenta]

The images are so detailed you can tell whether a neighbor's hedge was recently trimmed or whether the car parked in front of a favorite local eatery might belong to a friend

It is creepy when you think about it.