Google Maps, Keep Out

Posted by: Tim Halbur

12 June 2008 - 1:00pm

North Oaks, Minnesota is one of a handful of towns pushing back on Google, claiming that their Street View feature is a violation of privacy.

"The city of 4,500 residents has demanded that Google Maps remove images of North Oaks homes from the website's Street View feature, where any Internet user can glimpse a home from the nearest road.

North Oaks' unique situation, in which the roads are privately owned by the residents and the city enforces a trespassing ordinance, may have made it the first city in the country to request that the online search engine remove images from Google Maps.

"It's not the hoity-toity folks trying to figure out how to keep the world away," said Mayor Thomas Watson. "They really didn't have any authorization to go on private property.""

Full Story: North Oaks tells Google Maps: Keep out - we mean it

Source: Star Tribune, Minneapolis-St. Paul, May 31, 2008