Google Street View - is it too Close?

Google Street View covers five US cities and is growing fast. You can be sure that it is only a matter of time before it will be available in South Africa as well.

With this feature you can zoom down streets; up real close, read street signs, even licence plates. But you can also see into people's houses, see people coming out of adult bookshops or strip clubs. Is this a stalker's best friend?

Potentially embarrassing or compromising scenes like these are raising questions about whether the Internet's leading search engine has gone too far in its latest attempt to make the world a more accessible -- and transparent -- place.

"Everyone expects a certain level of anonymity as they move about their daily lives," said Kevin Bankston, a staff attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a group devoted to protecting people's rights on the Internet. "There is a certain 'ick' factor here."

Read this report and watch the video on CNN.