I will admit, when it comes to private sector action, I’m not a big privacy advocate. I don’t really care if my supermarket chain knows what brand of toothpaste I prefer, or how often I buy paper towels. I also don’t get how Google’s new street zoom features is violating anyone’s privacy. When you’re in a public place, you’re in a public place.  And as for this:
Ms. Kalin-Casey, who manages an apartment building here with her husband, John Casey, was a bit shaken when she tried a new feature in Google’s map service called Street View. She typed in her address and the screen showed a street-level view of her building. As she zoomed in, she could see Monty, her cat, sitting on a perch in the living room window of her second-floor apartment.
“The issue that I have ultimately is about where you draw the line between taking public photos and zooming in on people’s lives,†Ms. Kalin-Casey said in an interview Thursday on the front steps of the building. “The next step might be seeing books on my shelf. If the government was doing this, people would be outraged.â€
I have a novel and innovative new technology for dealing with this issue. I call them blinds.