BIG BROTHER WATCH:Call to 'shut down' Street View

A formal complaint about Google's Street View has been sent to the Information Commissioner (ICO).Drawn up by lobby group Privacy International (PI), it cites more than 200 reports from members of the public identifiable via the service.PI wants Street View shut down while the ICO investigates the service."The ICO has repeatedly made clear that it believes that in Street View the necessary safeguards are in place to protect people's privacy," said Google. Privacy International (PI) director Simon Davies said his organisation had filed the complaint given the "clear embarrassment and damage" Street View had caused to many Britons.Speaking to the BBC, Google boss Eric Schmidt, said: "We agree with the concerns over privacy."The way we address it is by allowing people to opt out, literally to take anything we capture that is inappropriate out," he said "and we do it as quickly as we possibly can."He added: "We are getting controversy over street view because it is so successful. It turns out that people love to see what is going on in their local community."

Private and public

Mr Davies said Street View fell short of the assurances given to the ICO that enabled the system to launch."We're asking for the system to be switched off while an investigation is completed," said Mr Davies."The Information Commissioner never grasped the gravity of how a benign piece of legislation could affect ordinary lives," he added.In July 2008, the ICO gave permission for Street View to launch partly because of assurances Google gave about the way it would blur faces and registration plates.Since Street View launched in the UK on 19 March, PI has been contacted by many people identifiable via the service.Among them were a woman who had moved house to escape a violent partner but who was recognisable outside her new home on Street View.Also complaining were two colleagues pictured in an apparently compromising position who suffered embarrassment when the image was circulated at their workplace.The ICO said it had received the complaint from PI and would respond "shortly".It added: "It is Google's responsibility to ensure all vehicle registration marks and faces are satisfactorily blurred."Individuals who feel that an image does identify them (and are unhappy with this) should contact Google direct to get the image removed," it added."Individuals who have raised concerns with Google about their image being included - and who do not think they have received a satisfactory response - can complain to the ICO."
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