August 16, 2013

Thai villagers conduct citizen’s arrest of Google Street View driver who was just minding his own business

by Shayne Rana

Google’s Street View mapping system has got to be one of the most innovative ideas out there. Google Maps not only gives you a bird’s eye view of locations but an actual look-see onto the streets that make up cities, towns, and some other in-land locations. However intriguing the system may be to those of us that know it, a car driving around with a large camera strapped to it could also be construed as a little too in-your-face and in-your-business to those unfamiliar with this. Take for example the people of a little village called Sa-eab in northern Thailand who presumed that ‘Big Brother’ had dared to infiltrate their domain in the from a large vehicle with a rather larger camera. The reason they were a little insecure about strangers with cameras is due to a little scuffle raging between the village and a dam construction in the area.


The residents of the village, and we’re not sure if pitchforks and torches were in the picture, went as far as to detain the unassuming driver of the vehicle. Conducting what can be assumed as a mass citizen’s arrest, they took the driver to a temple and asked that he swear on Buddha’s statue that his job there, in his all but unobtrusive vehicle, was legitimate and not part of some insidious plot to photograph the village and use the images for God-knows-what. After a ‘swear’ and an explanation, the driver was offered an apology by the 20 or so villagers and was let go. Google’s take on the incident is that their Street View vehicle drivers are thorough professionals and as part of their job description are forbidden from interfering with their surroundings. Naturally they do meet with some resistance from environmental and human factors while on their rounds but that’s just all part of a day’s work.

[Via – Cnet]