The headline caught my eye:  “Gang of villagers chase away Google car.”   Paints quite a picture, huh?  But these villagers were from an affluent area north of London.  They were not simply aghast at a tacky Google car marring their pristine corner of paradise. They were concerned about invasion of privacy and safety, about creating a detailed treasure map for would-be burglars.

Of course, there’s a difference between what’s legally right and what’s morally right.  Assuming Google was on public property, where do we draw the privacy lines?

Google’s ambitious plan to offer a 3-D street level view of communities across three continents hit a snag when angry residents of a UK village blocked the search engine’s camera car from photographing their homes.

“I was upstairs when I spotted the camera car driving down the lane,” resident Paul Jacobs told The Times of London.

“My immediate reaction was anger: How dare anyone take a photograph of my home without my consent? I ran outside to flag the car down and told the driver he was not only invading our privacy but also facilitating crime.

Gang of villagers chase away Google car – CNN.com