English villagers man pitchforks against Google Street View car

Residents in an English village have chased a Google Street View car out of their town.

The car was spotted by Broughton resident Paul Jacobs, who warned the driver that he should turn around. The driver ignored him, so Jacobs did a ring around and got enough people to come out and surround the car, forcing it to leave.

Jacobs says he was concerned that inclusion in the service would result in a rise in break-ins: “”This is an affluent area. We’ve already had three burglaries locally in the past six weeks. If our houses are plastered all over Google it’s an invitation for more criminals to strike. I was determined to make a stand, so I called the police.”

Ignoring the fact that it’s still (mostly) legal to take a photograph in a public street, Jacobs said “”My immediate reaction was anger; how dare anyone take a photograph of my home without my consent?”

Privacy groups are trying to have Google Street View shut down in the UK, claiming that it’s a far bigger deal than the millions of CCTV cameras that spy on residents live 24/7.

(via PC Pro)