CNet reports that the European Union’s privacy watchdog sent a letter to Google outlining its concerns about Street View; in the letter, the watchdog “told Google that it should warn towns and cities before it snaps photos for its online Street View maps. The EU also told the company that it should cut the time it keeps the original photos online from a year to six months.” (By original photos they mean the original, unblurred, unredacted photos.) Google responded saying that its itinerary was posted (though the page is a 404), the images are, shall we say, not current, identifying images (faces, licence plates) are blurred, etc., etc.

I think it’s safe to say that the give-and-take between Street View and privacy commissions is going to be a long-term thing.