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That's nuts.
1 replies
Sir, we're going to have to ask you to leave...
That's nuts.
Sir, we're going to have to ask you to leave...
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Yeah I can see some serious LP issues with this. It would basically provide thieves a remote way to \"Case the joint\" and learn all they needed to pull off a robbery or burglary, thus jeopardizing the employees and customers needlessly. I can't fathom many stores being comfortable with this.
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Yes, this does seem like an important point. Maybe even with consent, you could see how a company might end up suing Google if a criminal admitted, \"yeah, we used Google to check out the interior of the store.\"
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Casing a joint is about a lot more than security cameras and merchandise locations. It wouldn't be of much value to thieves. Although I'm not really seeing where is of much value to anyone.
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Sounds like a real good way to come into a place you plan to rob later on, to plan where the valuable items and camera systems are.
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Who in their right mind would go along with this.
This kind of thing is just burglaries waiting to happen.
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If I were a store owner and someone said they were from Google and wanted to take pictures of my store, I almost certainly would say no unless I had some talks with a Google representative, like a PR rep or something. Someone comes in willy nilly wanting to take pics? No way.
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I think you'd recognize them if you've ever followed their previous work: http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1922981 and http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1928379
I agree. I'd ask for credentials and verify before I even considered it and even if I found out he was legit I'd still ask him to leave.
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And by \"credentials\" we don't mean a business card with the Google logo on it.
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I get nervous going to new places. and a lot of times I look up restaurants and stores online before I go to them. When there happens to be photos of the places (like on Yelp or the stores website), this is a bonus for me.
So, maybe if you look up a business on google, there could be an option that says \"see inside!\" (like books on Amazon)
I see legal issues over this but kinda cool if they could I guess. :shrug:
oooh, I'd love to see this on all those bait & switch Brooklyn camera shops!
I'll bet this is just them preparing for their april fools joke. Watch for store views in a couple months.
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Sounds like they are getting permission from the business owner, so I wouldn't see any legal issues. If I owned a storefront, I would want people to see what I offered in my store. Y'all folks are paranoid. As a business owner, you have a security system and you have insurance. Getting people in the store is what is important.
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I call shenanigans on the store, Google \"Just Showed Up?
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I presume it was done with permission.
And if I owned a store, and Google wanted to do this, and my Store was in good shape and I had sufficient warning, and I was certain that it was Google who was doing this? Hell, yeah. Thanks for the free national advertizing. Plus the local news coverage when the rumor leaks. Sure, people can case the joint online. They can also case the joint from my television commercials, or from walking into my store with a camera phone.
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This sounds like a scam to me...
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Shhh! I am planning on doing banks next.
And girl's dorms. Lots of girl's dorms.
As long as they're just photographic the main customer area and not the back room, back door, air vents and loading dock, then I don't see a problem. I could go to Oh Nuts in person and see the same thing that Google allegedly did.
I could see these photos getting outdated really quickly though. Especially a video or clothing store.
According to legend, John Dillinger and his gang would sometimes go to a bank posing as a film crew and tell the president that they were scouting locations for a movie about bank robbers. The staff were usually only too happy to show off the vault and everything else. Then later they'd come back and actually rob the place.
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This is around the corner from where I used to live! Flatbush represent!
On a serious note, this sounds like a total scam. Can you say \"casing the joint\"? I'll bet the follow up is some thief breaking in and absconding with several hundred pounds of dried fruits, nuts, and bulk candy.
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Oh my God! Look at this place! How could this happen? Candy chewed, wigs pulled from stands, cheese packages poked and repoked!
At the GitEmSteveDaveDome , we make our OWN view: GitEmSteveDave.com
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This would only be useful if Google frequently updates the images. The interior of stores changes constantly ... so the frequency of updating would have to be very rapid indeed. Unless the images are always current, they're useless to potential customers.
As it stands, Street View images can grow stale and not reflect reality. The same is true of the Satellite view ... for instance, a shopping plaza that went up in a town near me some 2 years ago, and took just over a year to build, still does not appear on the Satellite view; you can't even see it as a construction site, let alone the plaza itself. This means the Satellite view is at least 3 years old, if not older.
I also question whether a store would even want to have its interior photographed and available for viewing by anyone on the Web. Thieves might use the information against them. Not to mention, there's a possibility of compromising the customers that might be photographed incidentally.
This sounds like BS to me. In my younger, more naive years, I tried taking photos inside a supermarket and was promptly disciplined. Companies don't like that.
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I heard from a friend still in college that Google is having a locker room view too. Apparently some of the local frat boys signed on as interns and she was getting dressed when they had to come in and take pictures.
This is a real good way for a store to get some free publicity on the internet. Make up a story using the word Google and Camera and the world will listen, then come shop at your store.
I wouldn't be surprised if Google has seen the inside of my home.
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You cannot take commercial photos within stores without permission. Malls will deny permission.
Street view is automated. I don't see Google doing a manual snapshot approach to business interiors.
I'm waiting for Bank Lobby View and Vault View.
Try walking into Google HQ and say you are taking photos for Bing View.
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\"A store in New York City called Oh Nuts, which apparently sells nuts and nut-based goods,\"
And candy! Don't forget about the candy. They have great stuff.
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Jesus H. Christ on a Segway. Google either has no shame anymore, or else cajones the size of bowling balls.
First, the intrusive Street View surveillance cars. Now, they're in bed with the goddamn' NSA. And now, their people are just moseying into peoples' shops and taking pictures? What astonishing gall.
From now on, if I absolutely have to use Google, I'm using it through a site called scroogle.org, which provides for secure, private searches of Google. May I also suggest a Firefox add-on at:
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/60333/
...which is an \"identify-sharing\" add-on for the purposes of anonymizing your Google searches?
As for me, I get perfectly decent search results from AltaVista, without the incessant advertising, paid links, and Wikipedia links taking up the first half-page full of results.
Screw Google.
Intrusive that they take pictures of public areas? Are you kidding me? The problem with the US is too many people are hiding too much shit. Politicians hide and don't allow anything to be transparent. They are not taking pictures that any person walking into the store could not get with their EYES. Nobody barged in, or did anything hidden.
(Tinfoil hat not included)
Nothing is substantiated. Just someone taking pictures in a store \"claiming\" to be from Google. If I was a retailer who wanted to take pictures of the competition I'd use the same cover story.
\"A store in New York City called Oh Nuts, which apparently sells nuts and nut-based goods\"
And candy! Don't forget the candy. They have a ton and it's all great.
Way to duplicate my own comment. It was Consumerist's commenting system which wasn't doing anything when I hit Submit, I promise! :)
Happens to me a lot. Submit & Preview buttons don't work. I'm using Google Chrome.
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Happens to me daily. Suddenly I will be unable to comment and the problem will last for hours.
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I'm waiting for google house view, where i can look in my house from google, see my dog sleeping, and me on the laptop, laying on the bed, reading consumerist.com
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When is Google going to add Girls Shower room to Google maps? =)
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Slightly off subject but always good for a laugh.
Funny google street views: http://www.criminaljusticeschools.com/blog/20-crimes-caught-on-google-street-view
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Restaurants, Bars, Other places where the focus is on atmosphere: Yes
Everywhere else: No.
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Those darn squirrels, always up to something.
I'm not sure how seeing the general indoor layout of a store will help most people.
I guess if you were in a wheelchair or something you could use it to check the space in the aisles. But other than that I got nuthin.
I'd be surprised if Google would actually bother taking indoor photos of stores considering not only how often the inside of stores changes but how often businesses change or go under. There's not enough payoff to be worth that kind of effort.
I think this store got punked.
Weird. I would think there would be some legal issues with that. Like the reason that streetview can't go onto private property.
What other legal procedure could it be except that Google gets consent from the store owner before photographing anything.
Not if the store owners let Google in, as was the case here.
Of course, IANAL.