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THEY spend their days devising technology that eats away at privacy but when it comes to disclosing their own personal information the people behind Google's prying mapping systems are less than co-operative.Google Australia is expected within months to launch an application that will publish highly detailed, street-level photos of much of Australia, in a move that has drawn strong criticism from privacy advocates. Google's picture-snapping cars have been cruising Australia's suburbs since late last year, with pictures of thousands of homes expected to be uploaded to the internet with Street View's launch.While Google has defended the project, the internet company baulked when The Weekend Australian requested the personal details and addresses of the group's key figures to allow the paper's photographers to take pictures of their homes. "Providing those details would be completely inappropriate," said Google spokesman Rob Shilkin.He said Street View only contained imagery "that anyone can already see walking down a public street"."The imagery available in Street View will contain imagery of neighbourhoods, cities and local terrain and has been a highly requested feature by Australians," Mr Shilkin said.According to property searches conducted by The Weekend Australian, Google's general manager Karim Temsamani owns a single-storey house in the eastern Sydney suburb of Kensington that he bought for $2.25 million in May 2006. The four-bedroom, two-bathroom property - The Weekend Australian has deliberately withheld exact addresses to protect the executives' privacy - has a two-car garage and covers 506sqm. Google Australia's only Australian director, Mark Tucker, lives in a house in Mona Vale, in northern Sydney, which is held in the name of his wife, Anne Marie Tucker, and was bought in 1990 for $410,000.Of more interest is information pertaining to Mr Tucker's business affairs, revealed in corporate records.According to data filed with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, six different Mark Tuckers live at the Mona Vale address. All were born in the Sydney beachside suburb of Manly - but on slightly different dates.According to ASIC records one Mr Tucker was born on January 21, 1953, one was born on January 13,1953,another born on January 25, 1953.Another Mr Tucker - who is both the director and secretary of a company called Bahama Acres Holding Company - is registered as living at the same address but was born on January 12, 1953.A Mark Tucker living at the Mona Vale address - who is currently the director of the Tucker Family Superannuation Co - was born on January 12, 1963, while another Mr Tucker at the same address was born on March 12, 1953.Mr Tucker said those ASIC birthdate entries were "typographical errors" that would be corrected.Further internet searches of Google's key players reveal that Sydney-based Lars Rasmussen, the man credited as the creator of Google Maps, owns a house in Denmark and was born on January 11, 1963. In January last year Mr Rasmussen set up a company Grazzhopper Australia, which he currently runs with Victorians Paul Barret - of Nunawading - and Debbie Young, of Point Cook.Mr Rasmussen owns 74 per cent of the company via his Denmark-based company LHR Holdings. He also owns 45,000 shares in a North Adelaide-based company Cohda Wireless.Mr Shilkin said the drivers of Google's picture-taking cars were instructed to "stay on public roads only" and the group was "focusing on finding ways" to ensure faces and licence plate numbers were not identifiable. "Street View contains a simple process for the flagging and removal of imagery that will be available in Australia," he said.By Anthony Klan
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23526150-7582,00.html
As in the days of Noah...
