Poynter High - Story Ideas

The Smoking Gun Web site tells the story of a Pittsburgh couple that is suing Google for invasion of privacy over its Google Maps Street View system.

These concerns started popping up last year when Google launched Street View. BoingBoing posted a picture from a reader who spotted the family cat in a photo and said it was so clear you could see it was a tabby. Other photos have included co-eds sunning themselves.

For a roundup of articles about Google mapping and privacy issues, go to a blog called The Map Room. Slate pulled together some of the most interesting images captured so far:

Promising candidates included the two men entering a cannabis club in San Francisco, the interior shot of the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel (a no-no since 9/11), and the guy standing outside a strip joint. Google responded with an unassailable position: "Street View only features imagery taken on public property and is not real time. This imagery is no different from what any person can readily capture or see walking down the street." Google provides a page to report images that should be removed. The company also worked with domestic-violence shelters to keep those places private.