The Town That Was Too Good For Google Maps
The town of North Oaks, Minnesota told Google Maps to get out of its nice quiet community this January, says the Star-Tribune, and Google removed the whole town from its "Street View" service. The private community, a suburb of St. Paul, is 92% white with an average income of $75,000. Of course, if the poors wanted privacy, they wouldn't get it.
As a private community, North Oaks officials told the paper, they had to enforce the town's no trespassing laws. The common people with their public streets are at the mercy of public law, which does not prohibit photographing houses from the street.
Google removes houses from public view when the residents ask. Still, according to a spokesperson this is the first instance a town has asked to be removed from Street View. What if an entire city asked the same?