Undoubtedly, one of the biggest stories of the week has been the launch of Google Street View. It definitely created a buzz here at the Van offices as we all spent a constructive half-hour looking up every house we’ve ever lived in (apart from mine. Apparently even the mighty Google thinks visiting the wilds of rural East Anglia is pushing it a bit).
There have been several strands to the Street View story – the main element being the furore over the perceived invasion of privacy, leading to a campaign group complaining to the Information Commissioner that people in the photos are identifiable.
In the past couple of days, this has taken on a life of its own; the horns of Google and Privacy International are now locked in a fierce battle, with the latter accusing Google of attempting to discredit its concerns. Claims have been made that a smear campaign is being waged, with Privacy International alleging that Google has been briefing journalists to say that the group is supported by, and institutionally biased in favour of, Microsoft.
And at the other end of the story spectrum – the very other end – we have the paranormal. Obviously.
Yesterday, the Telegraph reported that experts have been called in to examine “the Google ghoul” photographed at Cardiff’s Millennium Centre. A local medium explained that the ghostly apparition of a woman was spotted at the scene of murders and unsolved mysteries going back hundreds of years, and that her clothes clearly marked her out as someone not of the present day.
Unfortunately, it appears that sometimes it’s possible to be looking so hard into goings-on in other worlds that you miss what’s happening in this one.
The Daily Mirror reported – a week ago – that Google has been littering Street View with images of iconic British characters. And whilst it might be true that the clothes of the figure in Cardiff mark her out as from a different era, it’s a recognisable one: the hat, long purple scarf and carpet bag are less supernatural than they are supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, and Mary Poppins is just one of the fictional characters wandering the Street View streets.
Maybe someone should tell the Telegraph before they alert the authorities to a dangerous lost bear wandering up Portobello Road on the lookout for marmalade sandwiches.
