Row over Ashleigh on Google 'spy site' (From The Northern Echo)

Row over Ashleigh on Google 'spy site'

10:12am Wednesday 17th March 2010 in

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AN image of Ashleigh Hall standing in the doorway of her home only weeks before she was murdered by Facebook predator Peter Chapman has been removed from the controversial Google Street View website.

The 17-year-old’s family have branded the appearance of the picture on the photo mapping service an invasion of their privacy.

Human rights campaigners said last night that the case highlighted the need for Google to introduce stronger safeguards.

Although the teenager’s face has been blurred, the image is still recognisable as Ashleigh, at her home in Warwick Square, Darlington.

The photograph is believed to have been taken by Google in August last year – weeks before the teenager met her killer, convicted sex offender Peter Chapman, on social networking site Facebook.

It was published on the Google site earlier this month as part of an update to the service.

The Northern Echo has agreed not to publish the image out of respect for the teenager’s family.

Ashleigh’s grandfather, Mike Hall, said: “I do think it’s an invasion of our privacy.

“I am pleased they took it off. The last thing we want to see is Ashleigh stood in the doorway after all we have just been through.”

He added: “Google should stick to maps, not spying on people.”

Google was last week forced to apologise after visitors to Street View spotted an image showing a partial view of a naked child.

A recent survey found that more than half of the people polled thought the mapping service was intrusive, while 24 per cent said they believed it would be used by burglars.

Alex Deane, director of privacy campaign group Big Brother Watch, said: “For many, Google’s Street View cameras are an upsetting invasion of privacy.

“People are not consulted before it arrives in their town and yet Google relies on the public to point out where they have gone wrong.

“Coming only days after a naked boy was also captured by their cameras, it is clear that Google needs to take greater responsibility for people’s personal privacy and introduce stronger safeguards to the system.”

Laura Scott, from Google, said: "It can happen that people who have died since imagery was first taken, may appear in Street View inadvertently. "In some cases the family may wish the image to remain as a memorial to their loved one, others wish to have the image removed entirely and we respect both these choices."

Although Google said the teenager’s family could choose to have the photograph removed if they wished, the image was taken down shortly after the firm was contacted by The Northern Echo.

In a separate development, MPs were told yesterday that Home Secretary Alan Johnson would hold talks with Facebook later this week about the site’s refusal to install a panic button to allow people to report suspected paedophiles.

Mr Johnson and junior Home Office Minister Alan Campbell will meet representatives from the site to persuade them to install the button, which links to the Child Exploitation and Online Protection centre.

Calls for the site to step up security have increased following the conviction of Peter Chapman for the kidnap, rape and murder of Ashleigh. Chapman used a false identity to lure Ashleigh online.