Privacy advocates have objected to the Google Street View feature, pointing to photographs that show people leaving strip clubs, protesters at an abortion clinic, sunbathers in bikinis, cottagers at public parks, people picking up prostitutes, and people engaging in activities visible from public property which they do not wish to be photographed and have published online. Google maintains that the photos were taken from public property. However, this does not take into account that the Street View cameras take pictures from an elevated position, enabling them to look over hedges and walls designed to prevent some areas from being open to public view. Before launching the service, Google removed photos of domestic violence shelters, and additionally allows users to flag inappropriate or sensitive imagery for Google to review and remove. When the service was first launched, the process for requesting that an image be removed was not trivial. Google changed its policy to make removal more straightforward, but has since removed the option to request removal of an image, replacing it by an option to request blurring of an image. Images of potential break-ins, sunbathers, and individuals entering adult bookstores have, however, remained active and these images have been widely republished.
In Europe, the creation of Google Street View may not be legal in all jurisdictions. Some European countries have laws prohibiting the filming without consent of an individual on public property for the purpose of public display.
Google Street View blurs parts of images containing car number plates and human faces in order to protect privacy and anonymity.
Americas.
Argentina.
In Argentina, Street View cars started taking pictures four years later than originally planned. Initially, Google planned to start collecting images on the same day as in Brazil but they didn't get government permits. These permits were obtained in September 2013. One day after Google Street View cars started taking pictures, a lawyer from La Plata tried to stop them in his city but on October 4, 2013, a justice dismissed his complaint.
Canada.
While Canada, like other jurisdictions, has raised the issue of privacy concerns regarding Google Street View, the presence of Google cameras in one Canadian city in March 2009 gave rise to a different complaint. Les MacPherson, a columnist with the Saskatoon "Star-Phoenix", complained in a March 28, 2009, column that the timing of the imaging, at the end of a protracted winter season and before the true onset of spring would cast an unfavourable image of Saskatoon and other cities. "What worries me more than any loss of privacy is the prospect of presenting to the world a highly unflattering impression of Canadian cities. With the possible exception of Victoria, they do not show off well in the spring. Google could not have picked a more inauspicious time to do its scanning. Saskatoon is unfortunately typical. For Google to record its images of the city at this most visually unappealing time of year is like photographing a beautiful woman who has just awakened from a six-month coma," he wrote. In early October 2009, the first Canadian cities began to appear on Street View; several, including Saskatoon, were not included in the initial roll-out. One city that was included, Calgary, included images taken in both summer and winter. Images of Saskatoon were rolled out on December 2, 2009.
United States.
Google delayed the release of Street View of the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area following concern expressed by the United States Department of Homeland Security that some of the images taken might be of security-sensitive areas. Additionally, the Department of Defense has banned Google from publishing Street View content of U.S. Military bases and asked Google to remove existing content of bases. Google has complied with this order.
Some cities in the United States where all streets are privately owned have asked Google to remove Street View images because their consent was not given. North Oaks, Minnesota may have been the first. In that case, Google complied.
Aaron and Christine Boring, a Pittsburgh couple, sued Google for invasion of privacy. Street View made a photo of their home available online, and they claimed that this diminished the value of their house, which they had chosen for its privacy. They lost their case in a Pennsylvania court. "While it is easy to imagine that many whose property appears on Google's virtual maps resent the privacy implications, it is hard to believe that any – other than the most exquisitely sensitive – would suffer shame or humiliation," Judge Hay ruled. Since then the decision was reversed in part and on December 1, 2010, Magistrate Judge Bissoon ruled that Google is an intentional trespasser and the company was ordered to pay one US dollar to the plaintiffs.
In September 2007, a Street View vehicle took a picture of a house on fire in Gibson, Arkansas. In August 2008, the people who lived in the house asked Google to remove this picture.
In 2010, the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) stating that Google's admitted downloading of private Wi-Fi data constituted a violation of The US Wiretap Act and The Federal Communications Act. The FTC decided not to take up the complaint. Documents subsequently obtained by EPIC under Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) indicated, despite a request from Congress, that the FTC did not examine Google's data from private wireless networks before dropping the case. EPIC filed an administrative appeal with the FTC, challenging its decision, and in May 2011 EPIC filed a suit against the FTC for access to the documents on which the FTC's decision was based.
Asia.
Hong Kong.
Before the launch of Google Street View in Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data took the initiative to inquire into the Google Street View Project, to ensure that it complies with the provisions of the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance in Hong Kong and to consider privacy issues that may arise.
Google declares that the Project does not intend to compile information about specific individuals whose identities can be ascertained. Faces of passers-by and car licence plates in the photographs will be unidentifiable because blurring technology is to be used. Also, there will be at least a three-month gap between image gathering and publication, to prevent the images being used to identify an individual's current whereabouts.
Google also assures the Commissioner that if anyone objects to any image of themselves, their cars, houses or children captured by the cameras, the related image will be removed.
The commissioner concluded that Google Street View does not breach Hong Kong privacy laws. But he will look seriously into any complaint made by an affected individual in accordance with the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance.
India.
Google started taking Street View images in Bangalore, India, on May 26, 2011. A Google executive promised that they would do their best to avoid security concerns. However, on June 20, 2011, Street View was blocked in Bangalore due to security concerns from the police in Bangalore. Google officials and leaders from BJP, the ruling party in Karnataka, organized a meeting on July 19, 2011, to continue Street View in Bangalore. As such , a few places like Rameshwaram don’t have street view .The Google officials, however, failed to convince the leaders that they would not violate any privacy laws.
However, on 27 July 2022 the government of India allowed street view in some cities of India like Chennai, New Delhi, Mumbai, and many others. The country was worried about Google's plans to put Indian cities, tourist spots, hills and rivers in an application in which one can explore through 360-degree, panoramic and street level imagery, because they fear that terrorists could use these maps to plan terrorist attacks in India. Official sources said after a detailed analysis by security agencies and defense forces, feel that allowing Google to cover India would compromise the country's security interests. 
Japan.
In Japan, Google Street View started in August 2008 and was made available for ten Japanese Prefectures in February 2009. The available Street View areas depicted residential and business areas, and showed the faces of pedestrians, displayed vehicle registration plates, and the  – Google's decision to show these has led to disputes. Local governments, lawyers and individuals claimed Google was violating privacy. On February 3, 2009, Google Japan representatives attended a meeting about privacy concerns held at a Tokyo Metropolitan Government facility, and agreed that privacy issues had not been adequately considered. Google pledged that, before taking photographs for Street View, they would in future notify the provinces' local government. Google Japan admitted that notifications and explanations of this kind had already been taking place in countries other than Japan, but had not done so in Japan as they were not aware of the potential privacy concerns.
On May 13, 2009, Google Japan announced that it would modify its cameras to scan from a lower height of 2.05 meters above ground level, 95 centimeters lower than the original height of the camera head. The new height is intended to avoid having cameras view over fences in front of homes and into homes. This reduced height is to be applied immediately, and all areas previously visited will be rescanned from the reduced height. Scans taken at the original height will remain available until they are replaced with the new images. 
On November 11, 2011, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications issued an administrative guidance to Google Inc. that its collecting activity of Wi-Fi data was against the law of telecommunication which requests secrecy of communication, and requested to delete the recorded data, to take measures of preventing of recording the communication data, and to let it be known publicly in Japanese.
Philippines.
The administration of the University of the Philippines Diliman in 2019 expressed concern over breach of privacy through the shooting of street view imageries in the vicinity of their campus, citing similar concerns in Germany, India, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The university's data protection officer suggested not allowing Google to shoot the public roads of the campus in the near future unless the concerns have been addressed.
Australia.
Australia has no laws prohibiting Google Street View. But in October 2010, despite this, Google Street View ceased operations in Australia, following months of investigations from Australian authorities. However, on May 4, 2011, Google announced that they planned to begin production again and on July 27, 2011, the Street View imagery for Australian towns and cities was updated.
Europe.
Austria.
In Austria, Street View was banned shortly after the launch after Wi-Fi data was collected unauthorized. The ban has since been lifted but strict regulations were put in place that caused Street View to not be deployed despite available data. In July 2018, imagery in various cities in Austria was released. On June 19, 2020, imagery across most of the rest of Austria was released.
Czech Republic.
In the Czech Republic, Street View was banned in September 2010 by the Czech Office for Personal Data Protection after more than half a year of unsuccessful negotiation between the Czech Republic and Google. The office described Google's program as taking pictures "beyond the extent of the ordinary sight from a street", and that it "disproportionately invade citizens' privacy." However, pictures taken before this decision (mostly in 2009) may have remained available online; Google obliged to erase every picture from that period should they be disputed. In May 2011, the ban was lifted after Google lowered the cameras by 30 centimeters.
Denmark.
According to a Danish media lawyer, Oluf Jørgensen, Google's practice of photographing people on private property is illegal. The Danish data authorities advised people who are photographed by Google to report it to police.
In 2010, Denmark, along with Ireland and Austria, requested that Google delete the WiFi data the company had collected unauthorized. Google complied with all three requests.
European Union.
The Data Protection Directive says that identifiable people have a right to data protection.
A 2010 demand from the European Union would require Google to warn local residents before sending out the cameras. It also required Google to keep the unblurred versions of the photos no longer than 6 months, instead of a year. In turn, Google announced that it was considering canceling Google Street View service in the European Union due to unmanageable requests of the European Commission.
This requirement was abolished on January 1, 2012. Google was instructed to give advance notice online and in the local press before photographing.
Germany.
In an April 2009