Photographers dive in middle of Google Street View controversy in Germany

Photographer Jens Best in Germany has inserted himself (and other photographers) in the middle of the Google Street View controversy by declaring that he will photograph the buildings that their owners request to be removed from Google Street View writes Spiegel.de (computer-translated)). Discussion of this in English at IT World and TechDirt. Best is not alone in this - he has around 400 volunteers joining him in this effort (via live feed of Twit.tv on Roku - more via Techmeme).

This adds one more twist to the seemingly never-ending debate of photographing in public, and the increasing debate of privacy in the digital era. So far no one (?) has brought up the T-word ("terrists"), but it is almost inevitable that it will come up eventually. To some, this will make the photographers look like the boldly-going good-guys, while others may get even more irritated at photographers sticking their cameras everywhere. Either way, this could be a "teachable moment" to advance the debate with the general public - assuming of course people can get past the slogans and their entrenched positions.