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Google was at the centre of new controversy last night after pictures of Tony Blair’s London home were mysteriously removed from its Street View web service.Images of the House of Commons, the entrance to Downing Street and several Government departments were also blacked out.And it also emerged that Google’s own boss in the UK does not have his London house on Street View.Anyone typing Mr Blair’s address into the website, which allows people to see 360-degree pictures of streets, including close-ups of houses and buildings, is met with the message: ‘This image is no longer available.’ While the front of Mr Blair’s house has been blacked out, it is still visible from a slightly different angle. Ironically, when the Blairs bought their Connaught Square townhouse they installed closed-circuit TV cameras around the building to address their ‘security needs’ – provoking anger from neighbours. Critics also pointed out that while in office Mr Blair presided over a ‘surveillance society’.There appeared to be some confusion yesterday over why the Foreign Office and the Treasury buildings on Whitehall had been removed, while other departments such as the Northern Ireland Office and the Ministry of Defence remained visible.The Treasury and the Foreign Office denied that any representations had been made to Google. But a Google spokesman said: ‘We would never proactively remove or blur a property and we only do so on request from the owners. For public buildings such as a Government office, the request would have to be made in an official capacity.’One theory is that the Metropolitan Police may have been concerned about images of officers in front of the buildings appearing on the website.Despite assurances from Google about blurring people’s faces, the face of one officer guarding the Blair home was visible. Scotland Yard was unable to shed any light on the issue, saying it did not discuss security matters.Last night, in the absence of any explanation for the removal of the pictures,campaigners mocked the Government’s apparent double standards. Liberty director Shami Chakrabarti said: ‘It is delicious irony, even a modern morality tale, when those who have perpetrated so much snooping protest personal privacy for themselves.‘So much for “nothing to hide, nothing to fear!” Perhaps we all have something to fear after all.’Guy Herbert of campaign group NO2ID said: ‘It is astonishing that a Government which gave council tax valuation officials the power to enter your home and take photos of it from the inside should worry about what ordinary people can see of their properties from the outside.’Shadow Home Secretary Chris Grayling said: ‘Perhaps the Government will now understand why there is so much concern about the extent of all their plans to monitor the lives of the people they represent.’It was also unclear why the front of the House of Commons, viewed from Parliament Square, had been blacked out – but was clearly visible from other angles. It is still possible to view the rear of the Commons from Westminster Bridge, for instance, and even zoom in on the riverside terrace, popular among MPs in the summer.The Serjeant at Arms is the official responsible for maintaining law and order in and around the Commons, but her office was unavailable for comment last night. Anyone in the world can now see close-up online pictures of millions of houses and buildings, sometimes even through windows, and it is thought that many celebrities will also be opting out of the service.Some people, however, managed to escape the all-seeing spy cameras. Among them is Dennis Woodside, the boss of Google UK....By Ian Gallagher, Tom Harper and Martin Delgado
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PS:Of course the elite won't have anybody google on them...They are the ones trying to control everything and everybody...!!!!!!!!
As in the days of Noah...
