Street View Launches in Chicago

By Margaret Lyons in Miscellaneous on Oct 9, 2007 4:00PM

Google's controversial Street View feature is officially live for the Windy City, igniting renewed concerns about privacy. It's also rolling out in Pittsburgh, Philly, Portland, Phoenix and Tucson today.

Privacy has been an issue since Street View launched last spring, though not so much a legal question as a personal one. Google captures the images by having a van with cameras on top of it cruise around; technically, that's no different than standing on the street and snapping pictures. But there's still a yeesh factor — the photos are hi-res enough that you can read license plates and recognize faces.

We've been poking around for about an hour but so far have been unable to turn up anything hilarious, salacious, incriminating or super interesting. But rest assured, we will continue to search. If you find something crazygonuts, you know how to holla.