Good on them!
'A Google spokeman told the Citizen that householders were "entitled" to request their properties be removed from Street View, but "only after the picture has appeared".'
No! If I ask for something not be there in the first place, that amounts to the same ultimate goal, not present under any circumstances! Do you understand?
Why can't we have the choice in the first place? I bet if I went stomping residential streets taking snaps for a new internet startup I had just formed, you'd all call Mr Plod and I'd get a good drubbing down the cop-shop before tea-time! 'Cos it's good old friendly Google, everybody's mate, they'd never do anything to hurt us, they're bestest friend a user of the internet could have, the khaki cargo-pants wearing, Apple fanbois, Web v3.0 trendies are all up for it!
NO! They are another huge faceless corporation, just like Uncle Steve Jobs and the Church of Apple and while I use their both Apple and Google services and products, I am still mindful that they don't abuse the trust we all put in them!
Keep 'em peeled!