Google launches UK Street View despite privacy concerns

In the face of fierce opposition from privacy campaigners, Google on Thursday launched its controversial mapping service Street View, which offers users 360-degree views of selected cities across Britain.The search giant spent more than a year collecting images of Britain’s streets using cars fitted with special cameras, which have crawled over 22,000 miles and 25 cities, from London to Manchester, Scunthorpe to Dundee.
http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article5939562.eceGoogle hit by privacy protests over its tour of British cities
For 24 hours, Google’s new Street View brought a vision of British cities to the web that included such memorable sights as a man throwing up between his knees outside a London bar and youths with traffic cones on their heads in Edinburgh.But while the chance to take a 360-degree tour of every street in 25 UK cities continued to bring most offices to a standstill yesterday, some of the more invasive moments caught on camera saw Google hit with a wave of privacy complaints.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/mar/21/google-street-view-privacy-images