
Dad says Google Maps shows son's dead body - dkoch
http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/18/tech/web/google-maps-dead-body/index.html?hpt=hp_t2
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aaron695
Given Google blurs peoples faces, I suspect they are quite happy to blur /
remove dead bodies.

So not sure what the real issue is here?

Has he actually asked for it to be removed?

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emhart
Current first line:

"Google says it will replace a Google Maps image after a California father
complained it shows the body of his teen-age son, who was shot to death in
2009."

EDIT: To remove my own snark as I realized the article was updated. Sorry!

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calinet6
Pretty amazing that something like this is basically a statistical certainty
with the amount of imagery we generate of the world.

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leeoniya
i would say "rather unamazing"

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bitcrusher
Is that a popular place for bodies? I swear I can see a body at street level
here:
[https://www.google.com/maps/preview#!data=!1m8!1m3!1d3!2d-12...](https://www.google.com/maps/preview#!data=!1m8!1m3!1d3!2d-122.36136!3d37.952679!2m2!1f153.52!2f83.12!4f17.39!2m7!1e1!2m2!1sPPglZN1tBgX5S7ZIu1dLSQ!2e0!5m2!1sPPglZN1tBgX5S7ZIu1dLSQ!2e0&fid=5)

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msellout
The area appears to have a high murder rate, as mentioned in some other news
articles.

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byoung2
If the goal is to prevent people from seeing the image, why go to the local
news? Now that the story has been picked up by online media, it will go viral.

~~~
tedivm
I doubt he cares about other people seeing it. I think he just wants to be
able to use Google Maps in his home town without stumbling on his son's
corpse.

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tricky
Had the satellite flown over earlier this headline might have said 'google
maps helps solve murder case'

so sad.

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beat
So, has Google actually refused to remove the image? Or just not moved fast
enough?

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toomuchtodo
"Barrera said he plans to formally complain to Google and to lobby state
lawmakers for their help in removing the image."

Don't believe he's actually asked Google yet to take it down.

~~~
ajross
Yet he's talked to CNN. I'm willing to bet the causality here went the other
way. The reporter got a tip about a murder scene (or whatever it was) on
google maps, did a little digging to figure out who it was, called the folks
involved, and ran with the first lede that would draw links.

~~~
aaron695
Perhaps, but the article does say he discovered it.

"Jose Barrera, of Richmond, California, said he discovered the image, visible
on Google Maps' satellite view feature, last week."

[Edit] Video says learned of.

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ryansan
I used to live in this area several years ago. It's really quite a rough area
with plenty of shootings and stray bullets to go around. These stories cropped
up all the time. I remember discovering at one point that the crime in
Richmond was worse than Compton. Not sure if it's still true or not.

~~~
jamesbritt
Some stats:
[http://www.neighborhoodscout.com/ca/richmond/crime/](http://www.neighborhoodscout.com/ca/richmond/crime/)

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briandoll
Super sad situation, but this is a classic Streisand effect in the making.
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streisand_effect](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streisand_effect)

~~~
baddox
It sounds like the father's reason for requesting the removal is that it
causes him grief, not that he wants fewer people to see it.

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thpoul
Really sad picture. I hope google removes it.

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BocceBaal
It's a little south of the marker on the map in the article, but it is still
on Google Maps.

~~~
magic_haze
It's been blurred out now
([http://imgur.com/1GcROpY](http://imgur.com/1GcROpY)).

Also, the new maps interface is very unintuitive. I remember there used to be
an option to create a shortlink to an exact coordinate: I can't figure out
where that is now. There is a 'Save' button, but I think that just saves it to
my local machine. How do I share a location?

~~~
sxtxixtxcxh
that blurry square isn't it, if you travel south for about half a block,
you'll see a police car, follow that road forward a bit, and you can see a
body, and north of that in the field there is a group of law enforcement.

slightly gruesome screenshot:
[http://i.imgur.com/bnyNZq5.png](http://i.imgur.com/bnyNZq5.png)

~~~
thearn4
Very sad. The world is a very big place though, this kind of stuff is bound to
come up. I do hope the Maps folks take some action.

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kimonos
I understand the sentiment of the father.. I think it is appropriate for
Google to remove it..

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jolohaga
Very sad. I feel for the father.

