Germany To Scrutinise Google Street View In Privacy Issues

[engine]

Germany To Scrutinise Google Street View In Privacy Issues [uk.reuters.com]

The German government said on Wednesday it will scrutinize Google's promise to respect privacy requests by letting people opt out of its "Street View" mapping system and that it would be ready to intervene if necessary.

Google's announcement on Tuesday that it would allow Germans to stay out of Street View failed to allay fears that privacy would be compromised by the navigation system.

"We'll take a very close look at how effectively this works in practice and we'll see from there," a spokeswoman for Consumer Minister Ilse Aigner told a government news conference.

[dstiles]

Opt-out is stupid. Most people would not even think to look and if they did how would they know where to look? People travel around: they could have been caught anywhere. Privacy issues require opt-in. At the very least street-view should obliterate every person and every vehicle from the images.