I wonder what the basis for Google’s assumption is. Has Google carried out an analysis that shows the vast majority of people cannot identify other people without seeing their faces, for instance? It would behoove Google to publish this research, if indeed it has carried it out – and otherwise to explain why it drew its own line in the sand at face-blurring.

The justification for the ban appears to focus on the fact that Street View is comprehensive and systematic. This would suggest that while people putting the odd holiday snap online would be unproblematic for the Greek legislature, systematic aggregations of photos into comprehensive coverage – the sort of thing that Microsoft’s Photosynth is attempting, for instance – might not be allowed. What’s interesting about this is that the Greek legislature doesn’t seem to be clearly stating just where it considers the line in the sand to be: it seems to want to assess, on a case-by-case basis, which side of the line a given initiative lies.

This is, I think, in the long run not likely to be successful, simply because it is not scalable. There are only so many legislators, and besides, having too many individuals arbitrating without clear guidelines would surely lead to inconsistent judgements.