Google privacy row: complaints call

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Scores of pictures, including one of a man exiting a sex shop and another of a man being sick outside a pub, were removed a day after it was launched.

The Information Commissioner's Office said Google had to ensure all car number plates and faces were blurred.

The application called Street View allows users to access 360-degree views of roads and homes in 25 cities and includes photographs of millions of residential addresses, people and cars.

Sophisticated technology has been developed to automatically obscure the faces of people featured in Street View photographs, and car registration plates have been blurred, but such efforts have failed to quieten critics, with many labelling the maps voyeuristic and intrusive.

A spokesman for the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) said: "It is Google's responsibility to ensure all vehicle registration marks and faces are satisfactorily blurred.

"Individuals who feel that an image does identify them (and are unhappy with this) should contact Google direct to get the image removed.

"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."

A spokeswoman for Google could not confirm the exact number of images removed but said it had been "less than expected".

She added: "We take privacy very seriously which is why when we announced Street View for the UK we explained our easy-to-use removals process for images people found inappropriate - simply click 'report a concern' and report the image."