Another day, another Google privacy kerfuffle

One suspects that sooner or later Google will catch grief from every single person who's ever felt grumpy about all those other people cluttering up his or her planet, as yet another privacy "watchdog" complains about the search site's Street View maps. This time it's the UK's Privacy International, the director of which says that various British citizens have experienced "clear embarrassment and damage" thanks to months- or years-old images on the site. PI is asking the UK's Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) to shut the service down.

Setting aside the question of why a group based in the nation with the highest number of surveillance cameras per citizen would bother stressing about Street View, the "clear embarrassment and damage" clause leads to just one question for the casual observer: What in the name of Tim Berners-Lee are they doing in the streets of the UK these days, and does the term ASBO come into play at any point?

Google CEO Eric Schmidt, meanwhile, agreed that privacy is a concern with Street View, but noted that anyone can opt out and that the company processes requests to do so as quickly as possible. The ICO added in a statement on its site that "Individuals who have raised concerns with Google about their image being included -- and who do not think they have received a satisfactory response -- can complain to the ICO."