You had to figure it was only a matter of time.
I’m speaking of the decision by a Internet company called MapJack to remove its panoramic street-level views of Pattaya from its website. Once the story got out that the company had shown supposedly respectable Western men mingling with hookers and transvestites, you had to figure the company was going wash that Pattaya stench off its hands.
Fortunately, however, there’s still Pattaya Photo Guide, which still has, as of this writing, MapJack’s images online, despite what the crap Sydney Morning Herald story says. It’s a crap story in that, rather than actually research the story, the reporter tosses in speculation, (probably false) self congratulations at having the images removed and just wrong “facts,” such as saying PPG had also removed its images. (As a 22-year newspaper/magazine/online journalist, such sloppy reporting and editing drives me nuts.)
The fact is the Australian newspaper wasn’te even close to being the first to report about MapJack’s Pattaya exploits. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, there’s plenty of articles and interviews with MapJack about the project you can read. I’m not going to reprint it all here.
So, chalk up another win for the PC Police. They’ve wrapped their arguments in the clothes of protecting privacy, but you didn’t hear any outcry about faces being shown when MapJack’s four U.S. cities previously went online or even its Chang Mai photo shoot. No, it’s not about being seen online, it’s about being seen online in Pattaya. Witness this commentary by WebProNews’ David Utter.
People don’t have an expectation of privacy on a public street, but few expect a walk through the seedier side of town to become a snapshot with a potentially global focus, either. … It’s not just trips to destinations of questionable morality that should concern people who may be the subject of the unblinking eye of a tech firm’s photography efforts. What if someone with a grudge happens to browse the whereabouts of a former spouse looking for leads, and odds against odds spots the person? —
Still, you have to question the smarts of the MapJack people. They personally may love mongering in Pattaya, but they should have known that, just like the blokes they photographed doing it, you don’t talk about it back In The World.
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