Google street photos 'are an invasion of privacy'

Internet search giant Google could be investigated by the Information Commissioner over plans to launch a photographic street map of Britain.

The Street View service has cars equipped with 360-degree cameras to match photos of locations to maps. However, the pictures can also capture passers-by, leading to privacy fears.

The firm is this week believed to have begun taking pictures of London for a UK version of the site, and Googlebranded cars with cameras have been spotted across the capital.

Street View has been launched in the US and has had to remove images after several people complained. In one photograph a man appeared to be climbing a fence. Two men in San Francisco appeared to be gazing at a woman as she bent over, while an ambulance driver was seen stopping and eating a sandwich. The company has started a trial of face-blurring technology, using an algorithm that detects human faces in photographs.

Privacy International, a UK rights group, said it believed the technology broke data protection laws.

"In our view they need a person's consent if they make use of a person's face for commercial ends," said Simon Davies of the group, which has written to Google and asked for technical information about the system.

If Privacy International does not get answers within seven days, it will write to the Commissioner seeking a suspension of the service.