The Solution to Google's Street View and Privacy:

First of all, I don't believe that Google's imagery should be legally restricted from showing faces. What's next, blurring every face in a crowd at a sporting event in Sports Illustrated? Every face at a parade in the local daily? Every face that appears in all editorial news matter? Google Maps is gathering imagery for information purposes just like the news. And what's called news these days is so crummy that to say someone creating mapping software is infringing privacy is ABSURD!

BUT, if they want to cave in, here's one solution that would save practically all of the work of the post-processing face blurring:

It's called the "time exposure." Any image captured where the lens of the camera exposes the film/digital plane in the range of 30 seconds or so records no moving objects. People passing by on the street would not show up at all in a long time-exposure photograph. Yes, if the person is stationary there will be an image, but I doubt few people on the street, even if standing in one place, would never move their head from side to side within a minute's time, effectively doing in the camera what Google's algorithmic-based face recog software is providing, with no extra time or effort. This would at least eliminate 90-95% of face recording I believe.

Again, I think the whole thing is ridiculous and common sense ought to prevail. Heck I think it would be cool as hell to be shown in a Google street view! I'll volunteer to be in all of their images if they want to pay me to show up! Again, common sense here, and even if I was crazy enough to take a piss in public (which I am), I don't think it would be too cool of them to flash me to the world, and I really believe they would agree. Simple cooperation and people not going privacy-surveillance fear crazy should solve the issue on its own. Google doesn't want to show me taking a squirt, I believe! Would you? =;)