Google has a fleet of vehicles with external cameras on swivel mounts which are driving around in cities and towns all over the world. Google provides a site where anyone can experience the street level view of the scanned cities and towns. This can be useful for tourists, travelers, researchers and fun for casual Internet browsing. Unfortunately, sometimes the cameras captures things that people would rather keep private such as embarrassing things glimpsed through curtains and cars parked where they should not be. There have been law suits to have some scenes removed from the Google site.

Governments have become involved in disputes with Google Street View over privacy issues. In 2010 Google announced that it might cancel Google Street View in the European Union because the European Union has made unmanageable demands. Austria and the Czech Republic has banned Google from taking pictures. In May 2010 Germany threatened legal action when it was revealed that Google vehicles has also been capturing information from unencrypted wi-fi connections. In October 2010, Google Street View had to stop operating in Australia after investigation by Australian authorities.

As with all technology, depending on how it is used, it can help and/or hurt people.