UK privacy watchdog clears Google Street View

[April 23, 2009]  LONDON (AP) -- Britain's privacy watchdog says Google Street View should not be removed or shut down.

The Information Commissioner's Office rejected a complaint Thursday by London-based human rights group Privacy International which had argued that Google's high-quality photos of houses and streets breached people's privacy.

The ICO says it would not be in the public interest to remove the service in a world "where many people Tweet, Facebook and blog."

The agency says it received 74 complaints and inquiries about Street View but argued it caused little privacy intrusion.

Google obscures individuals' faces and car license plates by pixilation and removes images on request.

[Associated Press]

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