'I See a Giant Monopoly Developing That's Reminiscent of Microsoft'

http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,671426,00.html

This article follows an interview between Spiegel and the German Justice Minister Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger. Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger is a conservative leader who addresses one central issue: privacy. Spiegel first asks her of her opinion on Google's rampant growth and use of technologies such as Google Earth and Google Street View, to which she replies with definite distaste. She goes on to say, "I have a hedge as a noise and visual barrier. If the images go beyond that, it will not be unproblematic, from a legal standpoint." The second issue Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger addresses is the proposed use of full-body scanners as another airport security measure. Her main concern with these is the fact that they should "no longer make the body visible, but should only image potential threat areas," and also be tested more stringently to ensure that no health risks could result from use of these full-body scanners. Overall, she agrees with the notion that airport security should be tighter, but fears Germans will be stripped of their privacy in the dawning of this new impenetrable security. Likewise, she acknowledges Google's ambition to grow and stick to their company motto of "Don't Be Evil," but fears they are quickly doing just that and attempting to monopolize the world.

I agree with many of the notions that Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger brought up, including not making sacrifices to people's humanity to ensure they won't explode something without the government's explicit permission. The world is becoming more and more like the Orwell's 1984 every year, and it should be a legitimate concern. At the same time, I feel it's silly to worry that people might look at the top of your house with Google Earth or see your front yard with Street View. As a matter of fact, I've seen images of crimes being caught clear as daylight on Google Street View, so it's definitely not all bad (www.failblog.org has a picture of a guy pointing a gun at a little kid on Google Street View). What I'm basically trying to say is that we need to have a concern for our own safety and privacy and to scrutinize every new invention to ensure it will only help in the long run, but we can't be so paranoid as to look at every street light and postbox with undying suspicion.