Slashdot Mirror
First Google Maps Hack Takedown
An anonymous reader writes "Despite "users accelerating innovation" with Google Maps the 'hacks' are not immune from Google's legal team, who have taken down "Google Wallpapers for violating the terms of agreement.
From a quick skim through the terms it would seem that most sites using the Google Maps data are in violation. Are Chicago Crime and Google Sightseeing next to go?" It may be a shame to shut down Google Maps offshoots, but that has to be the nicest take-down note I've ever seen; it's polite, friendly and reasonable. Update: 06/08 21:22 GMT by T : Below, a few more of the current uses for Google Maps.
An anonymous reader submits "The AP is running a story about the multiple uses for Google Maps. Among the uses, Tracking sexual predators in Florida, Guiding travelers to the cheapest gas nationwide, Pinpointing $1,500 studio apartments for rent in Manhattan, and Finding crime in Chicago. It'll be interesting to see if Google allows these sites to remain online or not."
Funny, you can still get to the python script that generates the wallpapers from the cached pages of http://gmerge.2ni.net/ on Google itself:
e vinux.org/~2ni/gmerge/+google+maps+wallpaper&hl=en
:)
http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:lNdeCgLHUdwJ:l
Get it while its still there!
--greg Vulcan quiescent... Q: What machine shutdown with this message?
So if RIAA sent you a bouquet of flowers with a cute, humorous, handwritten greeting card personally signed by the PR manager informing your court appearance date, it wouldn't be so bad?
I don't think there is anything wrong for a listed company to protect its interest, control its IPs and maximize its profit, but the fanboy twist is totally unnecessary.
Rock that crushes, Paper & Scissors that don't matter.
...at least be nice about it?
i hope my favorite mashup, google housing, that uses the craigslist rental pages won't get taken down!!
http://www.housingmaps.com/
No...
.*AA any day.
1. Lawyers
2. Due Dates
3. Use of the word "compliance"
4. Use of the word "further action"
5. Nice invitation to a developers conference.
I'll take that over the
If religous zealots don't believe in Evolution, then why are they so worried about bird flu?
It sounds like Google Maps had to sign an agreement not to let the image data be used for commercial purposes. I wonder if they got a letter telling them to take down the offending site or be sued?
I read the internet for the articles.
I love google, and google maps is wonderful to play with. I had actually considered building something like the Chicago Crime page, but given the terms of service, thought I'd better not. I can see Google's point. They are providing a free service for individuals. Haveing another person/group/company use that freedom to build a new service and possibly profit off of it at the expense of the individuals it was created for is rough.
That being said, I think there is a lot of potential for other uses of Google Maps, and hopefully at some point, Google will allow some sort of licenses for use other than personal.
I must say... they really are, "not being evil".
I've recieved a DMCA takedown notice before. Most aren't pretty. Personally, I never understood why most DMCA takedown notices were taken directly to ISP level, without even a word to the webmaster.
In this case, Google sent a nice letter, requesting they take it down, and even explaining why. This is far superious to any other company takedown letter I've ever seen.
Jay | http://oldos.org
OK, so it's pretty clear that the script is creating derivative works by stitching together the sat-maps. But how is Chicagocrime violating the terms?
...and then we finish the job with a Slashdotting. Nice.
Help save the critically endangered Blue Iguana
Are Chicago Crime and Google Sightseeing next to go?
Unfortunately yes, but that's because of us, not their violation of terms with Google.
If these walls could talk they'd probly still ignore me. --MF DOOM
too much google fetish for me
I am not sure how Google Sightseeing could be in trouble, except for trademark violation. They do not seem to be using the maps, but rather the satellite photos, which cannot be copyrighted.
Google's been shutting down the gMail invite spooler , too, but according to the creator and owner of the site (http://isnoop.net/gmail/) his legal notification from the legal team was quite friendly, it's pretty cool that google isn't the kind of company that keeps rabid lawyers around to sue people. See thread on Somethingawful.com for more: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?s= &threadid=1580408
Montage-a-Google http://www.kiffer.at/m-a-g seems not be gettin problems. they are als listed on wikipedia.
I'm actually surprised Google let others leech on their bandwidth like this without paying them or anything. Same with e.g. GoogleFS and other hacks. Either this is a sign of more things to come, or it's just one of few sites they didn't like even with their highly relaxed stance about others leeching on their services.
Beware: In C++, your friends can see your privates!
Google Maps uses a fixed longitude/latitude distance ratio of ~0.772, while the true ratio depends on latitude (the ratio should be cos(latitude)). So Google Map is optimized for 39.5 of latitude (N or S), and the maps are increasingly distorted as you go toward the poles or the equator.
For example, Anchorage is stretched horizontally by a factor of 1.60 (yup those should be right angles).
MapQuest is similarly distorted, but Yahoo Maps is not.
"but that has to be the nicest take-down note I've ever seen; it's polite, friendly and reasonable."
Many years from now, we will see a similar Slashdot post when Google becomes the New World Order:
Dear Bill,
The GoogleOS team recently noticed that you guys have had your asses handed to you, by us. We commend you on your many years of somehow staying at the top, despite the fact that you sorely neglected securing your software. Sorry we had to break your record; but your evil violated the official Evil Google TOS, listed on our home page.
Lots of love and warm tapioca,
Larry and Sergei
IGB: More fun than eating oatmeal!
...any more than Fox can dictate the terms of your television-watching to you.
Shh! Don't give them any ideas!
They might as well just post the offending URL here. Down quicker than you can say "Service Unavailable".
I used Google maps once, and I got SO lost in downtown Seattle. Their service is nice and full of features, but I prefer simple accuracy over fancy graphics anyday, especially when it means getting lost in the maze of one-way streets and idiot drivers that is downtown of any major city.
No, Google is good at a lot of things, but right now, maps is NOT one of those things.
Be there for the fantabulous extravaganza!
It's Google Wallpapers versus Google, Google versus Google Sightseeing, and Google Sightseeing versus Your Mother!
It's INSTUPITUOUS!
Why does it show me a map of the SF bay area when looking for an apartment in Austin? My friend in Austin always says its a lot like San Francisco but I didn't think he meant it that much.
Don't worry. I'm sure the maps will be better once Google Maps is out of beta.
You wouldn't trust a beta service to do something as vital as navigation, now would you?
For more information, click here.
First takedown, courtesy of Google...
Second takedown, courtesy of Slashdot...
Anybody got a copy of the note?
Google isn't threatened by people creating new services out of maps. If it was up to Google, you could probably do anything you wanted.
However, Google has suppliers. They are very interested in protecting their copyrighted data. They are, as yet, willing to allow modification of the Maps service for things like the housing map, etc. I'm not even sure that their agreement permits them to complain, as it is still Google serving the images.
Creating derivative works of the actual map photos crossed a line with the suppliers.
By stitching and thus changing the images. It is a really neat thing... what would be better is for them to release it as a tool that home users can use for free which would avoid the TOS violation as far as I can tell.
If you don't vote, you don't matter, so don't waste your time telling me your opinion
You couldn't *pay* for the publicity that people like /. readers, admins, developers give for Google.
Know the first thing I tell a new user who know bugger all about the Internet? www.google.com. In fact, I usually set it as their home page to make my life easier.
That translates directly into advertising revenue, and I do it because they have a spectacularly good search system, very cool add on tools and they let us play with them for free. They know *exactly* what they're doing and I'm fine with it.
Deleted
The site looked like it was about to die a slow and painful death, so here's the notice in full:
"The Google Maps team recently noticed your Google Maps tile "stitcher" to see developers interested in our products and we commend you on the service. That said, we would appreciate it if you voluntarily remove your service and stop using Google Maps on your web site. The service violates the Maps Terms of Service available at http://www.google.com/help/terms_local.html, and jeopardizes our ability to make Google Maps available to the public because it encourages non-personal use of Google Maps.
If you have any questions or concerns, or if we have contacted the wrong people, please feel free to contact me directly. Otherwise, amueltc please let us know as soon as possible when the service has been
removed.
Thanks,
Bret Taylor
Product Manager, Google Maps
"
That's the point. The webmasters are lifting images and using resources from Google without their permission. Google makes money by showing visitors ads. These tools do not show Google's ads to end users - Google can claim they lose money by having their resources taken without the chance to earn income.
Their product is being offered to users in ways they did not intend, did not authorize, and are unable to monitize.
SEO Firefox Extension
Shouldn't this headline be: "World's First Google Maps Hack Takedown"
I don't see anyone arguing the merits of Google's action, so I will. From what I can see from the Google cache of the web site, I see that following:
This gives Google good reason to shut down "Google Wallpapers" as it stands. I don't think it Google has any claims against the python script itself, just its users (which includes "Google Wallpapers").
This differs from "Google Sightseeing" and "Chicago Crime" (as far as I know, since I can't verify util the sites are back up), which only link to maps on Google, which means
This new event is something different. It doesn't matter how polite they are about it. They are flexing their muscles, and putting on my historian's hat, power always gets abused. They talk about empowering the little guys and doing good, but when push comes to shove, look who got shoved.
Freedom = (Meaningful - Coerced) Choice != (Speech | Beer^2), and sad sock puppets' bad mods avail them naught.
Google has website shut down, asserting their intelelctual property rights = reasonable
MPAA has website shut down, asserting their intellectual property rights = Gestapo
"Ask not what your country can do for you." --John F. Kennedy
I agree, I mean damn...BSD has its own section, and its DEAD!
I know what you're thinking. Did I forward 65,535 packets or 65,536 packets?
You almost had it. Google's ownership of copyrights actually does allow them to set the terms that they have. You can use their service however you see fit for the most part, but you can't COPY (or rebroadcast, or make a derivative work from, etc.) the information except under the rights they grant. It's not a contract; it's a license. It's the same mechanism the GPL uses to restrict what can be done with GPL-licensed software.
On two occasions in the last few weeks I've tried to use the point-to-point directions based on post codes.
/.ers, it's an alpha release for us.
The information is utterly incorrect and extremely ambiguous.
Take note, fellow UK
Google and MapQuest both look stretched out horizontally... Yahoo is the only one that looks normal. That's interesting.
Google is releasing a new beta project called Google Posters. With it, you will be able to have large poster sized satellite maps of any point of interest.
"I'm not impatient. I just hate waiting." - My Dad
How did the parent get modded insightful?
:)
The maps are a copyrighted work. By default, you can't redistribute derivatives of that work unless the copyright holder explicitly grants permission.
The terms of service explain your rights to the content... they don't restrict them.
And yes... Fox can't dictate how you watch television. But try recording their lineup, stripping the commercials, and putting them on the Internet.
You must not have tried to record a favorite program going off the program guide.
- You take someone elses content and pass it off as yours (even if you say "gee thanks google")
- Violate a Terms of Use agreement. Even if it's the ToU is hopelessly vague you can bet that you'll get a call as soon as your site gets popular enough
- You rush headlong into making a beta API the centerpiece of your website. Yeah, do it because it's neat, but don't whine when it breaks unless you want people to say "what the hell were you even thinking?". Even if it's Google's endless beta phase, if you rely on behaviour of a beta app, and then your site/app breaks... tough noogies.
The gyst is that Google is a company that makes a product and wants to make money and has investors blah blah blah..., just like Microsoft or Wallmart. You can argue tell your blue in the face about right/wrong, nice/not nice, good/evil, but the simple fact is that if you do something that legalize says you shouldn't do, and you get burned... don't be surprised. Google is going to oversee what people are doing with the googemaps... if they like it, they'll take the idea and incorporate it into their business model, if they don't like it (don't like == taxes resources or threatens revenue), the lawyers come knocking.Yeah, it's a funny headline. I was a little twisted too about whether to consider 'Maps' a verb or a noun and the same for 'Hack'.
In need of reliable and affordable server monitoring?
AFAIK, the Mafia from days of old would send a pre-ransom letter to potential victims that was flowing with praise and gratitude. The idea was to make a normally unpleasant act easier for both parties - nobody gets physically injured and the correspondence is very civil.
So yeah, being polite doesn't mean that everything's cool.
Anyway...
more likely, since every other company sends harshly worded C&D letters, maybe Google just wants to be different.
They appearantly posted a windows executable version, does anyone have a mirror of this?
So what is it?
That depends on what EU country you are in, but it is generally true that local laws tend to override any unfair "Terms of use" crap placed on a website. That being said, websites are still subject to Copyright and a website owner generally only grants you the right to use _their_ website. Google could take action against people breaking their IP rights regardless of the "Terms of use" listed.
9/11: Never forget it was a false-flag operation
While we are on the subject, got any bittorrent sites that you want to expose?
(I say that with total humor, you're not an asshole. I don't think...)
Get your Unix fortune now!
TerraServer, which has been around much longer than Google Maps, has a documented SOAP API for grabbing image data.
You quitting proves that the karma kap worked. The most annoying of the whores shut up. --CmdrTaco
The real problem with both Google Maps and MapQuest is the underlying data. Both get their street data (at least in large part) from the same company: TeleAtlas.
This is the company that still hasn't picked up on the fact that many roads near here were renumbered four years ago to meet 911 law requirements. My company's official postal address is 2075 High Hill Rd., but TeleAtlas still thinks the only valid block number for this road is 200-299.
does 'amueltc' mean?!
The Google Maps team recently noticed your Google Maps tile "stitcher"
to see developers interested in our products and we commend you on the
service. That said, we would appreciate it if you voluntarily remove
your service and stop using Google Maps on your web site. The service
violates the Maps Terms of Service available at
http://www.google.com/help/terms_local.html, and jeopardizes our
ability to make Google Maps available to the public because it
encourages non-personal use of Google Maps.
If you have any questions or concerns, or if we have contacted the
wrong people, please feel free to contact me directly. Otherwise,
amueltc please let us know as soon as possible when the service has been
removed.
Thanks,
Bret Taylor
Product Manager, Google Maps
Get your Unix fortune now!
so hosting a site could be a problem, but how about something like greasemonkey on firefox to do it locally? would that get around the restriction?
that doesn't watch pro sports, at least once in a blue moon.
Prefaced onto the beginning of EVERY sports telecast, is a note that the broadcast is owned by the league, and the network. And that rebroadcast, etc, is strictly prohibited w/o permission from the before mentioned entities.
"Politicians are interested in people. Not that this is always a virtue. Fleas are interested in dogs." P.J. O'Rourke
trust me they've already got plans on this. Broadcast flag anyone? start with recording then prevent people from changing channels during commercials.
d00d u r n trbl...
My patience is infinite, my time is not.
With web services becoming all the rage, what are Best Practices for enforcing personal use? If you're releasing source, what manners are there to keep someone from using your script for abuse?
Frankly I think the obligation lies in the hand of the service provider and the person using your code. The whole point of web services is to be able to extend and automate other people's systems. We're simply tool providers, building new systems. If I build a pencil and john goes out and commits triple homicide with my pencil its a shame, yes, but its also not my fault. Why is the internet home of the great double standard; as soon as a tool is easy to use it suddenly becomes the makers problem? As long as our systems designed to promote violations of TOS, its frankly not our problem.
Most every TOS says "for personal use only", google's qualm was that this script makes it easy to circumvent that. These claims are rediculous, even if theres a number of other violations.
-Myren
Why don't you submit a FEATURE REQUEST for it? That's what they're for, after all :)
Who the heck posted this "insightful"? An insight is an observation, but we're getting USEFUL INFORMATION here.
They use GDT/TeleAtlas Data and guess what, they don't have the right to allow people to make derivitave works of TeleAtlas's work. I guess they could wait till Teleatlas sued them and the offending sites, but they probably don't want to lose their data license. This would be kind of like if you recorded a radio show that played a song (which they licensed the ability to play) then when you were selling or giving away copys on your website they asked you to stop.
Yes. Yes, there should.
It is ludicrous to claim that Google invested that much in the original content, since everyone just gets it from US Geological Survey.
So, go to the National Atlas and download and use to your heart's content. If that is not good enough, then go download all the data you can imagine. Still not enough, you can access all the layers via web services that comply with specifications published by the Open Geospatial Consortium at run time from your own web pages.
Now, write your congressmen and tell them how you appreciate that they made all this available to you, the citizen, for free, instead of spending all that tax money only to add a fee that makes it prohibitive for all but corporations who can be gatekeepers to keep you out. And hope that this doesn't become another casulty of Iraq budgets.
While you are at it, start a USGS support mailing list and an open source project to keep this sort of alive.
Google Maps has also double-crossed me before. My friends and I were going out to dinner and it showed our destination as being on the wrong side of an intersection. We drove back and forth along the road where Google Maps showed it would be at least 5 times before we gave up and asked a local.
It was a huge drag. I really love the Google Maps interface but it pays to cross check with another service if your time is important.
earthquake!!
I have to say that sending a polite, could you not do this, e-mail is very cool of google. For a time, I ran a radio station off of my server. Not many people listened to it, but anyhow, I got a letter from ASCAP asking me to not do it.
There's letter was much more legalese ridden, etc, ultimately, they had the decency to send me a warning notice before they sicked a pack of lawyers onto me. After it was clear to me that they were serious about it, I stopped.
If I was swapping songs and the RIAA sent me a letter saying, "hey could you please stop?", I probably would. Instead, they'd probably just sue me, and charge me a lot of money I don't have.
So yeah, there's something to be said for how you say things.
This sig has been temporarily disconnected or is no longer in service
Be glad you can even see some streets, we're just a blob of green and brown to Google Maps
Look this is a perfectly reasonable response. Suppose someone started using your personal webserver to constantly test their bandwidth, i.e., put up a page which invited people to measure the speed they could download your entire site.
Also it doesn't look like any of the other sites are in trouble. If you read the notice they asked them to take it down because it encourages non-personal use of google maps. Basically I take that to mean it encouraged people to put it in the background rather than actively using it. Alot like the example with the webpage. I mean how would you feel if people started using your webpage as a background and made you go over yout transfer quota.
If you liked this thought maybe you would find my blog nice too:
Fox can't dictate how you watch television. But try recording their lineup, stripping the commercials, and putting them on the Internet
Don't mind if I do!
Humpty Dumpty was pushed.
I think not.
If Google really cared they would fix Android Chrome to reflow text, instead of discriminating
Thanks! I only hear about the coolest utils on slashdot after they've been taken down...
:(
Of course while posting this I determined that I sadly get an access error while running the exe
Gravity Sucks
The main advantage of Google Maps over MapQuest is that you can actually look over the route and get a reasonable idea of the area you'll be going through. Then, when you get diverted, you have a chance of getting back on track. You also have a better chance of recognizing the turns after looking at how the cross-streets are arranged.
Missing the point I see! Well done.
XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve the problem, use more.
Be sure to report errors. I found an error in a listing in Seattle, e-mailed them, and it was fixed a few weeks later. It was too late for me, it already caused me to lose time, but it might help someone in the future.
They don't look square, they look as though it's a perspective drawing, which a map isn't supposed to be. Check out a similar Yahoo Map for comparison. If you put a protractor down on a printout of that map, you'd see 90 degree angles (more or less, I suspect). Not so on the Google version.
Breakfast served all day!
Yet another Gmail user-created service shut down: http://isnoop.net/gmail/
I think there's such a positive reaction to Google's request as we're not used to getting such thing with a lubricant, and a pretty high quality fragrent one at that. Wait until somebody takes a stand against Google somehow, sorta like the AOL/MSN Inop wars.
The terms of service section that was violated was the photographic imagery section, they don't seem to mind the other stuff, just don't molest the pictures.
...
http://worldwind.arc.nasa.gov/ I just wanted to let people know that the latest CVS of NASA World wind has a plugin engine that allows people to do the same thing (Their is even a plugin already made to do it!)
to thunderous applause.
It's very necessary. Consider:
Things google could have done: 1) sued. 2) threatened to sue until you settled for $3000 (yeah, I'm talking to you DirecTV!). 3) Claimed rights they don't actually have 4) contacted his ISP and gotten him shut down.
Things google actually did: 1) asked him respectfully and nicely to stop. 2) provided a legitimate reason for the same.
I've never seen a C&D that friendly. Style makes a big difference in things like that, and shows that google "gets it" and isn't throwing their weight around needlessly.
AOL Instant Messenger's Terms of Use forbid use of third party clients from connecting to the network. How come whenever AOL tries to lock out third party clients it is evil, but when Google does it, it's okay? Both are terms of service violations.
Grandparent hit it head on: enough fawning over Google.
That's one of the most insightful comments on the whole page!
Incidentally, has anyone noticed how much power Google is gathering? They're becoming a monopoly, just like Microsoft. That's why I don't use Google anymore.
Well, I do, but only when I can't find what I'm looking for elsewhere (and that's not often).
The difference between spam and poop is that you don't have to dig through septic tanks looking for real food. -- Me
that your enthusiasm for our map service continues unabated, and so we would like to assure you that the IRC worms currently converging with your site are part of a special service we extend to all of our most enthusiastic clients, and the fully armed virus payloads are of course merely a courtesy detail.
(with apologies to the late Douglas Adams)
Why would I use that data, when attempting to make a derived product? A real service would be at least to keep seperate what could be reused from what cannot. Why would I mix in proprietary data when it makes the whole product unusable to me. As a person involved in open source, I would think you would understand that. This is not the only project where Google "innovates" by making a totally proprietary product from data which should have been mostly open.
There should be a new /. section called 'google'..
There is.
Ceci n'est pas un sig.
According to googlesightseeing,Mr AC nailed it!
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
is that the Tile Stitcher Wallpaper pulled in the Google images, and created new images from them by putting them together. None of the real Google Maps hacks do that; they simply reuse the regular Google Maps interface with overlaid enhancements.
Terrorists can attack freedom, but only Congress can destroy it.
Don't worry. I'm sure they just went with TeleAtlas during the beta period, and I've heard from several blogs that TrackBacked each other that Google is planning a better map system roll-out prior to general availability release.
For more information, click here.
There are 428 cities with more than a million people, and 59 with more than five million. A mere half-million isn't even worth listing; there are thousands.
http://www.citypopulation.de/World.html
Slashdot quality declines as the number of hot grits posts decreases. - Provolt's Law, Apr-09-2005