Google CEO: Don’t want your house on Street View? Move

A Google spokesperson later issued the following statement regarding Schmidt’s comments:

“The
point Eric was making is that our Street View service provides only a
static picture in time, and doesn’t provide real-time imagery or provide
any information about where people are. Of course, we also allow users
to request that their home be removed from Street View.”

Update: Google also sent along the following clarification from Schmidt: “As you can see from the unedited interview, my comments were made during a fairly long back and forth on privacy. I clearly misspoke. If you are worried about Street View and want your house removed please contact Google and we will remove it.”

Almost a quarter million Germans recently requested their homes be
exempted from Street View. Google has said their homes will eventually
be blurred on the service.

During the same interview, Schmidt said Google is capable of quickly recovering any user’s search history for about the past year and a half. He said the search giant receives about 9,000 federal court orders to do so every year.