Google Street View: You have no privacy

This new feature is a little eerie to me.  You can clearly read license plate numbers on cars, see people dining at street cafes.  The photo on this link even shows a woman showing a little too much on the thong-side.

Boing Boing: Google Street View: would it be more/less evil if it were CIA or NSA?

Would we feel differently about street-level image mapping if it were done by a government agency? The FBI? CIA? NSA? DHS? Not implying that it should be, and this isn't "backlash." Just asking aloud.

Here is how they are gathering these images. A company drives up and down the streets with a camera that takes images in all directions. Cool stuff, but like I said, eerie.

Google Street View technology