JUST when you thought it was safe to sunbathe in the garden again, along comes Google’s new secret weapon: tricycle man.
The internet search engine’s plan to photograph every roadside in Britain for its Street View service has hit a few obstacles with claims that it is an invasion of privacy.
Google’s camera cars have been banned from entering private roads and prevented from filming in some villages by human barricades.
Undeterred, Google is launching a new device this summer: a rickshaw-style camera cart that can be pedalled up country lanes and bridleways and alongside hedgerows to capture families at work and play in their gardens.
The trike carries the same camera equipment usually found on Google’s fleet of Vauxhall Astra cars which,with their darkened windows, have been touring Britain taking shots for 360-degree views of streets to be displayed on the internet.
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The trikes are being brought in to reach places that are inaccessible to four-wheel vehicles. They have already been used in Rome to take pictures of the Trevi fountain and other landmarks that cannot normally be reached by car.
Greece has banned Google until it provides more privacy safeguards and Japan has asked it to reshoot using less intrusive camera angles.
The British government, however, has embraced the service. Google has struck a deal with VisitBritain, the tourist information service, to use the trikes to photograph historic buildings, coastal paths and natural wonders.
The trikes will also take pictures inside football stadiums so visitors can find their seats before they arrive.
The internet company has already hooked up with the Highways Agency to obtain traffic data for a Google Maps feature that will warn drivers of congestion ahead.
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Google’s increasing intrusion into British society has caused concern that it is providing criminals with a close-up view of people’s homes and security measures.
Villagers in Broughton, Buckinghamshire, called the police and formed a human barrier to stop Google filming their houses in April.
Privacy International, the antisurveillance pressure group, has complained repeatedly about its tactics.
Google photographs houses and streets without warning and people can easily be caught out. One man was snapped leaving a Soho sex shop.
People’s faces are supposed to be obscured automatically. The equipment has even blurred the picture of Colonel Sanders on KFC restaurants.
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Google says it shows how good its facial recognition technology is. Sometimes statues and faces on posters are similarly blurred.
Google said that because of operational factors such as light levels and the weather, the trike would be used only during the summer.
It says that people can have their houses removed from its website by “simply clicking on a button”. Sir Paul McCartney is among the celebrities who have asked Google to remove pictures.
In a post on a company policy blog, Gavin McGinty, Google’s product lawyer, said: “Saying that Street View is enabling crime is like blaming the motor industry for crime because criminals also use getaway cars.”