One of Google’s latest toys is Street View.  Now, in addition to seeing things on a map, you can actually get street-level views of neighborhoods.  Sounds like a good idea, right?

Probably, unless you’re in one of their photos and it’s not too flattering.  Or, you might be like the Borings from Pittsburgh.  They’re suing Google because of the photos of their home that have appeared in Street View.

Most people think that by law, a photo taken from a public street is fair game for publishing.  But, there have been law suits where other applicable laws have shot down the idea that anything goes.

So, this ought to be interesting.  I never really thought about the possibility that my likeness could be preserved on the Internet and I wouldn’t even know about it.

What do you think about Street View?  Is it a good tool for a real estate website?  Do you like the concept?

Google says that they will gladly remove a photo from the system if asked.  I did a search (on Google, of course) for remove street view photo.  I found lots of results from a variety of websites that discussed the issue or might even tell you how to go about getting a photo removed.  Oddly enough, none of the first page results was from a Google page.

Hmmm…..