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by npteljes 531 days ago
Some was mitigated, but I don't think that faces and plates were what had the biggest bang about it. It's a complete, 360 capture of a large part of public places, with people still being clearly identifiable, correlated with satellite imagery (which was pointed out as creepy and privacy-invading as well, upon its public release), resolution so high that you can read many texts, and you can still see in windows, into yards, all kinds of stuff. Wikipedia has a lengthy article about the different concerns. And yet, despite it feeling creepy and strange for many, it just became normal. People look up random places for fun, to hunt for their new home, for driving instructions, GeoGuessr is cool and has a league of its own... it's a creepy, risky new thing becoming part of life, that's why I brought it up.

Smartphones could be another good example. As the joke goes, people in the 60s are afraid the government wiretaps their phones. Nowadays, they say: "Hey wiretap! Do you have a recipe for pancakes?"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Street_View_privacy_con...