German Man Vandalizes Google Street View Car

Tweet

I think Google’s Street View is pretty cool. I have no concerns about my face, my license plate, my house, whatever, being on the service, and I actually thought it was better before they started blurring out everything. But, apparently, most people aren’t like me and find the service somewhat voyeuristic. There have been reports of upset citizens confronting the poor drivers of these camera cars, and now a German man has actually vandalized one of the vehicles.

News reports from Germany are saying that after being parked overnight in Oldenburg, Germany, a Google Street View camera car was damaged by an unknown perpetrator. The perpetrator let all the air out of the tires – and also cut a wire that connected the car’s omni-directional camera to something inside the car, probably some sort of hard drive where the pictures were stored. The wasn’t broken into and none of the expensive camera equipment on the roof was damaged or taken, aside from the severed wire.

This anti-Street View fellow was actually pretty passive aggressive about the whole thing – as he left a note on the windshield of the Opel Astra warning that he let the air out of the tires (surely, doesn’t want them to damage the rims). It goes without saying that he didn’t slash the tires, just let the air out (slashing car tires is actually much more difficult that it appears in movies – as they have steel sidewalls, I’d conjecture the fellow couldn’t manage to slash them out).

The German website reporting this story says that people across the country are upset with Google’s Street View and the camera cars. The feeling is apparently mutual across Europe as last April, home owners in Buckinghamshire, England, confronted and blocked a Google Street View camera car from driving down their street for privacy concerns. It should be noted, that Google Street View only shows you what you could see from the street and that anybody can request removal of an image.

As for the German passive protester, the Oldenburg police have an open investigation into the vandalism.