With the internet being such a vast resource of information and with so many people having unlimited access to it, privacy and securty are big topics when relating to searchable information around the web with questions like “Who will see this information?” and “How much information is too much?” Privacy plays a big part in SEO, especially with websites being categorized by “dofollow” and “nofollow” attributes and when some search engine crawler’s look for more information on a website more than others.

Google, the world’s largest and most widely used search engine, has various ways that you can search for information, such as: images, videos, and also by maps. Within Google’s Maps section, users can get an exact image of the place that they are looking for on the map by using Google Street View, and I have provided a video below about how Google acquires this information.

With Google publishing this information on its search engine under its maps section, this may bring a security risk to the various people (along with their cars and their license plates) who were a photographed at a specific location that Google has captured. I have provided a few examples below and have blurred out faces and license plate information for security purposes.

If you are unsure of how Google Street View works, please follow the steps that I have provided below:

  1. In your web browser, go to Google Maps.
  2. In the long text field next to the “Google Maps” title, enter an address (be as exact as you can), and then click on the “Search Maps” button. This will load a birds-eye-view image of the address that you have entered.
  3. Above the zoom feature, drag the orange figure to the place that you would like to see. This is only applicable if the street location turns blue as you drag the person over the chosen area.

This exposure of information on the web could almost be parallel to having too much exceess information (such as phone numbers and geographical addresses) on social networking sites, such as Facebook and/or MySpace, and even the geotargetting issue that was recently discussed.

With this information floating around the internet for people to see and possibly stumble upon randomly, does a security issue exist? Please be sure to include your feedback about this issue in the comments section below this blog post.