Welcome to the Panopticon, part 2

I lived in Google's home town for several years, which meant that I got to be part of some of their experiments -- whether I liked it or not. Amongst other things, I was one of the first group of people to get to see my front door on Google Street View, which resulted in some mutterings about disappearing privacy and the panopticon society at the time.

These days I'm living in the UK. And the UK edition of Street View went live this week, complete with face-blurring technology to respect the privacy of the citizens of a country that has at least a nod towards data protection. Let's see, now... Looks like the street where I live didn't have a visit from the Googlecam, but the street where I work did. And I recognise the figure on the front steps of the office block, even with face-blurring technology. Maybe I'll tell him tomorrow...