MELODY BRANDON and EMMAH NGOMANE

JOHANNESBURG - Insurance companies are increasingly concerned that the recently launched Google Street View will compromise clients’ security.

Managing Director of MUA Insurance, Christelle Fourie, raised her concerns earlier this week, arguing that Google Street View was an invasion of privacy that posed a threat to “household security”.

“Criminals are becoming more sophisticated in the types of technology they employ to plan a burglary. Sites like these can aid them.”

The website provides a street view of certain areas. Google sends a car around the neighbourhoods with a 360° camera on its roof, which sends a photograph every second.

GPS co-ordinates are attached to the photographs.

Fourie, who lives in Durbanville, said she used Google Street View recently and was stunned by how detailed the photographs were.

“They were so clear I could see both cars in the driveway and even the clothes on the washing line.”

Although the thought of someone staking out your home online is cause for concern, security experts doubt the new application will result in increased criminal activity.

“Criminals need to know the routine of the owners of the house. One will find that would-be robbers will stake out the property for a couple of weeks before they plan their attack,” said Gareth Newham, Head of Crime and Justice at the Institute for Security Studies.

“Google Street View is no more threatening than someone driving past your house and surveying the neighbourhood,” he said.

He added that while there were concerns overseas about privacy when the site was launched, there have been no serious problems.

“I think with anything new people expect the worst.”

But it seems that insurance premiums may be affected by the amount of personal information available on the World Wide Web.

In South Africa however, insurers seem reluctant to base their premiums on what is happening on the Internet.

Willem Roos, CEO of First Rand Short Term Insurance, which includes Outsurance and Momentum, said the new Google offering will not translate into higher premiums for their clients.

“We would not require our clients to take any further measures than they already do. For example, a burglar alarm system, security gates and burglar guards,” he said.

Chubb Security National spokesman Alison Bull agrees: “Even if one looks at a property via Street View, any would-be thief could not see whether or not there are beams, a security system, a security dog, or any other security measures taken by the owner.

“I sincerely doubt criminals would hop onto the Internet before deciding which house they want to rob. There are too many variables that would be unknown by not looking at a property in real time.”