Google's 'spy car' sparks concerns

A controversial "spy car" which has been used to visually map out the UK is causing concern among rural residents, including some in Shropshire, who are claiming it could aid crime and fear it is an invasion of privacy.

The Country Land & Business Association (CLA) says worried members contacted the rural watchdog after the Google car was spotted on private land near Shrewsbury.

The car has been touring the country, filming streets with a 360-degree camera for the Street View mapping website which went live last week.

Balfours partner Jonathan Lovegrove-Fielden, speaking on behalf of a client who spotted the car on their private property near Shrewsbury, today said: "I am very concerned at the security implications for farms as Google made no attempt to establish if they were trespassing on private roads and were very confrontational in attitude."

But Laura Scott, for Google, said that the mappers would not intentionally go on to private property and if this had happened it would have been an accident.

She added that the imagery was no different from what people saw when they were driving down the street and the website gave user the chance to remove photographs of their house or car if they want.

She added: "Street View brings enormous benefits to rural and urban areas alike - whether its helping a tourist to find an out-of-the-way B&B or planning a walk in the beautiful landscape up and down the UK.

"Google has gone to great lengths to safeguard privacy while allowing British users to benefit from this feature. Street View only contains imagery that is already visible from public roads and features technology that blurs both faces and car number plates.

"We've now launched Street View in around 20 countries and nowhere has there been any increase in crime as a result."

But CLA West Midlands director, Caroline Bedell, said: "We know that Google camera cars are legally mapping the West Midlands. Some private drives are not always obviously marked, so we remind Google camera car operators to be vigilant when filming in the more rural parts of our region."

The controversial mapping website raised further concerns this week after showing detailed pictures, labelled "British SAS" of the military headquarters in Hereford.