WebProNews

Google has been photographing German cities for months now. It's too bad they were not aware of this law that prohibits even taking pictures (I assume only when they're for commercial use). That's a chunk of money wasted if they aren't allowed to publish the images. So, what about Flickr and Webshots and similar companies? You can order pictures of German locations from Webshots and Flickr has advertising on their website. Betcha those amateur photographers and/or websites didn't secure permission to take those pictures. Why are they not being requested to remove them?

For personal reasons, I'm really disappointed that we probably won't have German cities available for Street View. Street View is an incredible tool for travelers, as well as local citizens. Before Street View, I'd never considered visiting Spain or France, since the UK and Italy were always my dream destinations. Having virtually toured Barcelona, Nice and Marseilles and other cities, I realized what I was missing and now they're on my must-do-before-I-die list and it's all thanks to Street View.

What about Microsoft's Birds Eye View? Will MS be required to remove their images, or are those images far enough away they don't violate privacy laws? In some of them, front and back yards can be seen pretty easily, especially since you can change the view in all four directions. I realize Google's pix are mcuh closer, but, hey you can't see into most people's backyards with Google. So where do the German and Swiss officials draw the line?

I wonder if German officials would be willing to approve a German company taking the photos? Thing is Street View is useful - surely a few German citizens would want it or something like it from a local company at least. ?? Same sentiment for Switzerland.