Google launches 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. On Wednesday, leading privacy groups threatened immediate legal action against the company, and MPs said they would raise their concerns about the project in debates in the House of Commons on Thursday. The service allows people to "walk" along a selected road at street level, from their computer or mobile phone. Hundreds of thousands of people have already used Street View to peek at the front doors of friends and family, and take a virtual tour of the streets of their city.

Source: http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article5939562.ece