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Plastic bag conquers Google Street View

news.com — Privacy advocates should take note of an effective way to avert the prying eyes of Google Street View: the lowly plastic bag.

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  • motogoat, on 05/09/2008, -4/+188DUGG for not using the term 'pwned.' Maybe we're making a bit of progress after all.
    • Garlik, on 05/09/2008, -7/+12It's not like anything's gonna change. "Pwned" will stop being used, and then what? "U got conqurzed!" One word will stop being used while another one will become common on the Internet. It's not a step forward or backward; it's a step in the same direction
      • ThinkBox, on 05/09/2008, -1/+11OOO PWNED JUST GOT CONQURZED!!!!!
      • Versh, on 05/09/2008, -0/+6If "Steam Punk" becomes popular the phrase will be "Vanquished."
        If FPS games make the culture generally more militaristic the phrase will be "Neutralized."
        If classic board games become more popular the phrase will be "Ker-plunked."
        If economy collapses, the phrase will be "国有"
        Etc....
    • fishpen0, on 05/09/2008, -7/+13PWNT
    • BossKey, on 05/09/2008, -0/+19BAGGD
    • whereiseljefe, on 05/09/2008, -6/+1PWNED!
    • boombume, on 05/09/2008, -0/+6Now all we need is for everyone to stop describing anything remotely interesting happening on the internet as "EPIC!"
  • BigManOnCampus, on 05/09/2008, -2/+7Next it will be a personified red balloon.
  • Bukowsky, on 05/09/2008, -13/+8I never thought a simple Plastic Bag would take down Google Street View... that's awesome
  • wrongonce, on 05/09/2008, -1/+31In order for plastic bag to claim conquest, it would have to happen in every picture. Now that would be a decisive victory.
  • sockpuppets, on 05/09/2008, -2/+51My date must have taken it off in an effort to find her way home.
    • sickswaystop, on 05/09/2008, -0/+1next time try paper with the eye holes, she wont be so offended. (40oz liquor shop bags are perfect for spinners)
  • mark076h, on 05/09/2008, -3/+78i think this was a covert job done by the homeless James Bond
  • baron42, on 05/09/2008, -3/+2214 3rd street fairbanks, AK
  • vMsam, on 05/09/2008, -3/+17one day if i ever see that google van taking pictures of a highway near where i live, im gonna run next to it and do funny faces for a mile or two.
    • ferretpants, on 05/09/2008, -0/+9You do that
    • mark076h, on 05/09/2008, -0/+8let me know what street you live on so i can be the first to submit it to digg
    • MooNinja, on 05/09/2008, -0/+2I saw a google vehicle one day last year. It was a Focus with a odd looking circular device on the roof. I wasn't entirely certain what it was at the time, but managed to get my ghetto ride on the map, although it missed me somehow, even though I was right next to it staring like a loon.
    • sickswaystop, on 05/09/2008, -0/+2This gives me an idea... why doesn't someone start tracking the google street view vans and then we can continuously prank it.
  • cypheroid, on 05/09/2008, -0/+17For anyone who wants to see the actual bag on Google's Street View: http://maps.google.ca/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=21 ...
    • ovni, on 05/09/2008, -0/+5Looks like there's water on the outside of the bag. Maybe the camera was covered during a rain shower and they forgot to take it off?
  • Djokuuskaj, on 05/09/2008, -9/+1seriously? what are people so afraid of... it's not like the car is driving up onto your driveway. I don't see how it disturbs your privacy.
    • mark076h, on 05/09/2008, -0/+3did you read the article? it links right to it
  • amanilaenvelope, on 05/09/2008, -6/+1The plastic bag man strikes again!!
  • gplpark92, on 05/09/2008, -4/+1in the year 1945
  • terracottapai, on 05/09/2008, -1/+75I think the bigger story is that Street View is in ***** Alaska.
    • ThinkBox, on 05/09/2008, -2/+1Agreed.

      Another big story is that no diggers have used the "I for one welcome our new bag overlords"
      Which comes from the Simposons in space episode where an ant gets super close to a camera and looks huge.

      I was at least expecting something like -
      "No... that bag just destroyed half the town..., we're doomed..."
      "No, its just that the bag is GIGANTIC!"
      • SlalomMan, on 05/09/2008, -0/+8I, for one, welcome our new bag overlords.
    • Tooch07, on 05/09/2008, -0/+1In three locations!
  • twertyto, on 05/09/2008, -4/+1SOLAR FLARE!....works well.
  • oduska, on 05/09/2008, -1/+9I thought it was just to protect the camera from the rain...
  • mrzisme, on 05/09/2008, -7/+4Its too bad there wasnt a receipt in there, the old kind from old Speedway gas station credit card machines that left the whole f**king credit card number on the ticket, nice and zoomed in for the entire world to help quickly destroy the credit of the bastard who littered this bag.
    • mrzisme, on 05/09/2008, -5/+1Dug down? I guess your right, littering is good, 3 cheers for people that throw their plastic bags outside, make sure you double dig down anyone who notions revenge to the kind people leaving plastic flying around. Go Digg community, justice is served finally.
      • TomTruelle, on 05/09/2008, -0/+1dugg down

        the punishment doesnt fit the crime...
        • mrzisme, on 05/09/2008, -0/+0Punishment? He calls his CC company, tells them his number has been stolen, they look at the computer, see 7,000 transactions originating from different parts of the world, cancel the card and send him a new one. Sarcasm has left the building.
  • blankb, on 05/09/2008, -2/+5wtf is it always about google map now that gets famous in digg
  • lalilulelo, on 05/09/2008, -5/+7A bit off topic but how exactly does Google street view work? I always assumed that people submitted pics, but this would mean that someone submitted a bag covered pic. /confusion
    • Eganj, on 05/09/2008, -0/+18A truck drives around with a 360 degree panoramic camera mounted to the top.
      • wonderworm, on 05/09/2008, -0/+6If that is the case then how did the bag end up blocking the view of the camera on the truck? Did the guy climb on the truck and put a bag over the camera without the truck driver knowing so that all the neighborhoods images show a bag instead of residence? What gives?
        • FUR10N, on 05/09/2008, -0/+2what most likely happened is that a breeze lifted the bag and the google truck just happened to ride into at that time.
        • daizaru, on 05/09/2008, -0/+2it's assumed that there was a bag put on it at som time to protect it from rain and they forgot to take it off or something. There's actually 2 or 3 bag shots, 1 involving a burlap sack as well.

          It's a bit of a mystery.
      • sickswaystop, on 05/09/2008, -0/+1dumbass
    • mark076h, on 05/09/2008, -0/+6popular mechanics had a great article about it here http://tinyurl.com/3cdorm
    • Coolmatt49, on 05/09/2008, -1/+4Fairies fly around invisibly with video cameras capturing everywhere they go.
    • Anonoman, on 05/10/2008, -0/+0The popular mechanics article is the old camera. They use a Ladybug2 camera from Point Grey Research. It is a unique looking camera, easy to tell if you can find a capture of one online.
  • houndeyex, on 05/09/2008, -0/+5Driving with that on your face can't be safe!!!
  • diggSJaustin, on 05/09/2008, -0/+1Come on, Google Street View. Paper is much friendlier to the environment.
  • boltzmann5, on 05/09/2008, -1/+2i saw of one where there is a guy who falls of his bike on the street view. does anybody know where i could find that?
  • petebert, on 05/09/2008, -4/+13i like turtles
  • allfatherblack, on 05/09/2008, -10/+1wow. whoever submitted this is almost as pathetic as the people digging it
  • helpseeker, on 05/09/2008, -0/+5Anyone else find it odd that it is only there for that block and then it disappears, and is nowhere to be seen before or after?
    • studdenfadden, on 05/09/2008, -0/+7No, it blew on to the lens then blew off when the truck stopped at the next intersection.
    • mark076h, on 05/09/2008, -0/+3not really this is a picture of the camera http://googlified.com/files/immersive-car.jpg it would have easily blown away by itself, or i am sure they have a video feed to see if something like this happens
    • Nothlit, on 05/09/2008, -0/+1Street View images are not necessarily collected in any sort of logical order. Different streets (and even different blocks of the same street) are often captured at different times or even on different days.
  • tmyprod, on 05/09/2008, -0/+10It actually makes Fairbanks more attractive.
  • GvnMcCld, on 05/09/2008, -1/+4Weird, I just drove down that street yesterday and it looked different...
  • Tolzmaniac, on 05/09/2008, -0/+3Street view must be very ugly.
  • Slagar, on 05/09/2008, -0/+3Lol, never expected to see anything concerning my town on the digg frontpage. Didn't think Google would even bother doing the streetview here.
    • rdoger6424, on 05/09/2008, -0/+1You live in Fairbanks?
      Are you getting treated?
  • WickEd101, on 05/09/2008, -3/+4why are the comments so *****
  • Coolmatt49, on 05/09/2008, -1/+9Plastic Bag: 1
    Google Street View: 64,783
  • badrelish, on 05/09/2008, -0/+1Well, if anyone can program their way out of this, it's google. If it was just a paper bag, maybe I could help.
  • XenoSNK, on 05/09/2008, -1/+5This just in: things covering view prevent you from seeing!
  • qxrt, on 05/09/2008, -0/+0I take offense at the characterization of plastic bags as "lowly."
  • iPerphekt, on 05/09/2008, -4/+0And it's in Alaska, ftw!
    [I live here.]
  • wibambau, on 05/09/2008, -1/+1In other news, wind is windy, and it blows things!
  • graemee, on 05/09/2008, -0/+1Good, the paranoids can all suffocate.
  • Binome, on 05/09/2008, -0/+1It probably started raining, and they didn't want to kill the camera, and forgot to crop out that section.
  • PyroRaver, on 05/09/2008, -0/+1I'm in ur streetview, blocking your camera!
  • Ikulus, on 05/09/2008, -0/+2Here's the exact route taken by the bag.

    http://maps.google.ca/maps?f=d&hl=en&geocode=12331 ...
  • JMellissa, on 05/09/2008, -0/+1Maybe THAT's why they're talking about baning plastic bags!? And all this time they said it was for the environment!
  • thebloodvayne, on 05/09/2008, -0/+0I don't know why Google Street View is considered bad in the first place. It's the middle of the ***** street people. With or without camera it's STILL a public place, and so the claim of privacy infringement is unjustified.
    • Kyan, on 05/09/2008, -0/+1Privacy is a relative term. Are you going to like it if i come sit in front of your house on the public street and film you coming and going all day every day? Maybe zoom in on the windows at night when the lights are on inside?

      What visible from the public street is fair game, right?
  • shreena7, on 05/09/2008, -0/+0Hey I completely dig lightweight shoes. Haven’t really found the perfect pair though. Saw something on http://www.reebokhexride.com/?um=07 Gotta try it out.
  • Mapper99, on 05/09/2008, -0/+1Google out a sack on their cameras in the seedy areas of Chicago as well:

    http://streetviewgallery.corank.com/tech/story/goo ...
    • s0nicfreak, on 05/09/2008, -0/+1I'd cover up my camera if I was going through there too... so that it wouldn't be stolen when I stopped at a red light.
  • sikofitt, on 05/09/2008, -1/+1Digg the original post
    http://googlesightseeing.com/2008/05/07/street-vie ...
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