So Google Streetview went live, and the papers went mental about privacy and so on, continually mentioning the poor bloke who was throwing up in Soho and the one outside a sex shop. The letters page was filled with indignant people who didn't understand the technology or had been so successfully whipped up into a state of paranoia by the government sponsored anti-terrorist rhetoric that they thought fundamentalists were at that very moment looking into their bedroom window and criticising their choice of curtains*. (There were, to be fair, a few voices of reason. One wrote 'A man put a picture of my house on the internet, with a map to where it was, details about the layout and number of rooms plus the value, and then demanded that I pay him for the privilege! Beware the "estate agents".')

(Pic from Streetview. It's a view of the Thames from outside Mick Jagger's house.)

I find this attitude laughable, because I used to work in direct mail. I used to buy your data (it ain't cheap, y'know - that's why every company in the world wants you on their own database). I used to buy from lifestyle lists - a giant, amalgamated database of everything the company could possibly find out about you, all because you neglected to tick the box that said "I do not wish to be contacted......." - you probably got bored about that quickly as well.

Here's the blurb from Experian's "Prospect Locator" tool -

Data sources

It is built combining the commercially available Electoral Roll, name and address level data from Experian's Canvasse Lifestyle database, directors at home, shareholder data and significant data contributions from partner organisations.

Partners

The partners are companies with large commercial databases, built from customer transactions. They provide data for individuals who have not opted out of third party marketing activity.

I don't really remember anyone writing to the papers to complain. In fact, I do remember one retired man fought a legal battle to make the elctoral roll private - you used to be able to just buy that. It seems privacy is not really a massive concern after all.

*A little fact, apropos nothing. Apparently people spend 17 minutes on average choosing the house they will buy ("Ohh, I just love it!") and 54 minutes choosing curtains for that house.