Privacy on Google's Street View in Taiwan and Thailand: An Empirical Analysis

Abstract

Google’s initiation in several countries of a service entitled Street View (SV) resulted in controversy regarding privacy invasion. Despite such controversy, there have been few empirical studies of the matter, especially covering non-users of SV. In this analysis, we obtained five results from samples in Taiwan and Thailand. First, most people are not seriously anxious about privacy invasion by SV. Second, more than half of females hesitate to tell their home addresses to others due to SV. Third, Taiwanese are more sensitive than Thais about telling an address to others. Fourth, attitudes regarding privacy invasion by SV do not differ significantly between users and non-users in either country. Fifth, light users mind SV relatively more than heavy users. These results suggest that people mind and protect themselves from SV, even though most accept it.

Keywords: Privacy Invasion, Street View

JEL Classification: K20, L14