Google finally got around to launching its Street View feature in the UK this week, with street-level mapping coming online almost two years after the U.S. first received it. Inevitably, ever since launch, Google has been removing images after complaints from people that the service breached their privacy.

Twenty-five British cities are now available to view from street level, with any Internet user with a modicum of tenacity able to view any part of these cities using their Web browser. In all, 22,000 miles of British roads have been photographed and placed online.

This has, once again, led to cries that the feature breaks privacy laws. When Google started collecting the data for this feature almost a year ago, privacy campaigners tried, and ultimately failed, to have the service banned. The main opposition to Street View is that people are having their pictures taken and published online without first giving permission.

Google does blur out faces and license plates automatically in an effort to prevent problems, but that hasn’t stopped hundreds of people already lodging complaints. Anyone who thinks an image is inappropriate either because someone in it is identifiable, or for any other reason, they can simply click on a link at the bottom of the offending image.

Google promises to act very swiftly when a complaint is received, and it seems that so far, it has stuck to its pledge. Within hours of the Street View feature launching in the UK on Thursday, images that had received complaints had been removed, and a “This image is no longer available” message inserted in its place.

I must admit that I had privacy concerns when Street View was first announced in the UK but the fact that Google acts quickly when it receives a complaint has worked to dampen those concerns somewhat. However, while Web users can check whether they, their cars, or their properties are visible to more degree than they’d like, what about those people who don’t use the Internet?

Time and again, people have argued that Google is breaking privacy laws with Street View, and time and again, it’s been shown that it isn’t. The Boring couple from Pittsburgh even took Google to court over it photographing their house and lost the case last month.

The Times has compiled a list of bizarre sightings from the first day Street View was online in the UK. These are likely to just be the tip of the iceberg.

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Entry was posted on Friday, March 20th, 2009 at 10:55 pm under Google, Internet, Legal, Opinion, Technology.

Read more entries by Dave Parrack.
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