So most everyone agrees Google Street View is pretty neat. Being able to check out your own street or the place you’re thinking of booking for a vacation has a certain wow factor to it.

But it doesn’t take long for the creepiness to set in.

Should we really be able to see all that’s there?

Google says it’s blurred faces and licence plates out of concern for people’s privacy, but even B.C. privacy commissioner David Loukidelis has already raised concerns that it doesn’t work well enough.

There are reports Google Street View was nicknamed “Google cheat view” in the U.K. after it captured men outside the homes of their lovers or exiting sex shops. There’s no doubt there will be numerous other examples of people caught in compromising positions.

But so what, some may say. It serves them right if the service catches men cheating on their wives or hanging out in bars when they should be at work.

Perhaps, except that other, more innocent and vulnerable types would also be caught in the crossfire.

Women and children who have fled abusive husbands to the safety and anonymity of transition homes, for instance. Clients at abortion clinics.

Google argues it only shows what’s visible from the street. But most people aren’t as tall as its roving cameras, and normally can’t look over tall fences and shrubs to see inside backyards.

Again, neat but also useful for crooks casing out places to break into or for pedophiles trolling for potential victims in the neighbourhood—without even having to leave the house.

Without any warnings of when the Google camera truck will be paying a visit, we may have to keep our curtains and blinds closed, and peek outside before leaving the house. You never know when Big Brother might rear its ugly head.

Is this really what the world has come to—technology being used to invade our privacy for corporate gain?