Google Street View: Cool or Creepy?

Now we can stalk perfect strangers, not just facebook friends! If you’ve google mapped anything lately you may have noticed a new feature on the webpage known as “Street View”. It’s a function that lets people actually see a 360 degree high-res view as if they were standing at that location. The option is currently limited to San Francisco, Las Vegas, Denver, Miami, and New York but it already appears to be brewing up quite a bit of controversy.

Some ‘street views’ show a man picking his nose, others of people entering strip clubs, college students sunbathing, going about their daily routines. Many say that this pushes the boundaries of privacy. Others argue that negative images, such as the one of protesters outside an abortion clinic in Florida, may create safety issues for the general public.

Google has already instated measures that allow people to request the removal of an image. But is that too little? Where will they draw the line between what is legal to do and what is right to do? In the meantime while they figure it out, I’m looking forward to taking a photo tour of NYC.