Internet search engine Google plans to launch its controversial Street View feature in Germany soon, but users with objections can register complaints before images of their street are made public, news magazine Focus reported on Monday.
The Google Maps addition provides panorama images visible from street level in cities around the world and will be available in Germany "promptly," the company told the magazine from Hamburg. The service is meant to allow people to see and explore a city in detail without actually physically visiting.
Data protection activists have been critical of the feature, saying that the cameras used to collect the images would also record details of residents' lives. Google's special Street View data collection cars, with mounted roof-top cameras, caused an uproar last summer as they trolled the streets of Berlin, Munich and Frankfurt, taking pictures for the service.
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