I chose my home for its seclusion and privacy. You can’t see in from the public right of way that borders the garden. You can’t see the slide and swing and trampoline.
No offence, but we don’t really want you to. Of course, this all shows up on the satellite photo on Google Maps.
Now anyone can fly over my home – if they have an aircraft lying around. And satellite photos have been around for years. But detailed pictures of my garden with my children’s play area and the routes of access haven’t been freely available with the absolute ease that Google now provides.
And given the incremental way in which this development has occurred, when we move seamlessly to real time satellite images, my irrational fears of predatory Google mapping child abductors won’t seem quite so barmy.
3 responses to “A private letter to Google”
I mean no disrespect, but even with real-time satellite images, your fears of child abductors will still be barmy. For one, child abductions are surprisingly rare, and for another, are usually precipitated, not by random google mappings of your property, but communication with your child online.
Now I’m not a father, so maybe this is harder than it sounds, but it seems your best defense has never been hiding your kid away in the woods, but rather to talk with them and ask them what they’re doing online and in their life. Again, probably a lot harder than I know, but still.
None of this is to say you shouldn’t be paranoid about real-time satellite images of your house, just that child abductions will probably not see a precipitous rise as a result.
I agree, but parenthood is just the manifestation of my paranoia.
Haha, touché!