'Close down Google Street View for a privacy probe'

PRIVACY campaigners have formally complained to the data protection watchdog about Google Street View.

Privacy International said it wants information commissioner Richard Thomas to close down the service for a formal inquiry into the new website which gives users access to photographs of streets across London and the UK.

Google was given permission to launch Street View in the UK after giving assurances it would obscure people's faces and car registration plates.

But the campaign group, which includes academics and lawyers, said it had received 200 complaints from people who had not had their faces obscured on the system. One of these included a woman who had fled a violent partner but was clearly visible outside her new home. Another was from two colleagues pictured in an apparently compromising position.

The ICO said it had received the complaint from PI and would respond "shortly". Privacy International director Simon Davies said: "We're asking for the system to be switched off while an investigation is completed."

Google said: "The ICO has repeatedly made clear that it believes that in Street View the necessary safeguards are in place to protect people's privacy."