pr-media-blog.co.uk

Google may be wondering what it did to upset the digital apple cart.

Since last week’s stand-off between the residents of leafy Broughton and the Google Street View van made national news, esteemed commentators have weighed in to the debate over Google’s hegemony.

The Observer’s Henry Porter - very much an enemy of the all-powerful and all-seeing State - is equally no great fan of Google, describing the company as a World Wide Monopoly (WWM for short and not unreminiscent of WMDs) and an “amoral brat” which demands compliance with its terms or else feeling “the weight of its boot on your windpipe”.

Rod Liddle over at The Times has less visceral feelings towards Google, but still manages to characterise it as having the “suspiciously smiling facade” of a place that probably has “a Red Nose Day every afternoon”.

So how would they view Google’s part in the upcoming Indian elections? Hat tips to WATblog.com and Palin Ningthoujam for bringing PR Media Blog’s attention to the Google Election Centre, which aims to provide Indian voters with various services including the ability to:

Comments alongside TechCrunch’s report of the move appear broadly supportive of Google. So, if the company is helping to facilitate the smooth running of a democratic process, could it really be so bad?

UPDATE #2: This is what Rory Cellan-Jones found in belligerent Buckinghamshire and this is what he says.

UPDATE: Hear what Google has to say about it.

 As I write, BBC technology correspondent, Rory Cellan-Jones is on his way to the Buckinghamshire village of Broughton, where the locals are revolting.

Is this a copy-cat outbreak of #G20 summit protests? Actually, no; it’s all about the Web’s favourite search engine Google.  

According to news sources, local residents have sent the Google Street View vehicle packing by forming a human barricade. Thames Valley Police, in customary non-judgemental police speak, report a “dispute between a crowd of people and a Google Street View contractor”. It’s about privacy, say Broughton’s inhabitants; Google says it’s working within the law and that there’s “an easy way to request removal of imagery”.

What’s got Broughton so hot under the collar? According to UpMyStreet the inhabitants have a bigger predilection for “golf, gardening and visiting National Trust properties” - hardly the stuff of anarchic, direct action.

But while Google sees Street View as a “rich, immersive browsing experience”, some Broughton people see it as a burglars’ charter.

Just this week, while talking with a client about the impact of social media, the question was mooted: “Has Google gone too far with Street View?” But despite the privacy backlash on its launch, there was no suggestion it would result in Home Counties’ insurrection.

Twittering lawyer, John Halton, pictures a baying medieval mob, though is careful to disclaim this view:

Others in the Twitterverse are divided on the topic, but have the “good people of Broughton” touched a nerve within the populace that Google - maybe over-estimating the benign acceptance it enjoys around the world - never anticipated?  

Broughton seems to be saying: “Listen Google, I’m happy for you to track down the cheapest car insurance and my secondary school sweetheart, but keep your 360 degree cyber nose out of my property.” An Englishman’s home remains his castle, it seems. You don’t get much more medieval than that.