• Ars Technica, Tuesday, August 26, 2008 1:30 PM

Google Street View may be a fun and even useful tool in many instances, but the up-close and personal detail that it offers of places (and sometimes people) has garnered scrutiny from privacy advocates around the globe. And as David Chartier notes, it doesn't help that Google seemingly violates trespassing laws to get some of the images.

In April, a Pittsburgh couple sued the giant for posting images of their home on Street View, because the camera-carrying truck had to drive down a private access road to snap them. Meanwhile, community groups in California's Sonoma and Humboldt Counties are up in arms because the Street View team uploaded images of a number of residences that were only accessible through private roads--meaning Google was essentially trespassing to get them.

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