Manx residents contact government over Google cameras

People on the Isle of Man have been expressing concern about Google's Street View service - before the pictures have even gone live.

Google has sent out its camera-mounted cars onto Manx roads to capture images for the service, which adds photos of locations to its online maps.

The company said the photos were only taken from public areas.

But some residents have contacted the government to ask how to get pictures removed from the site.

"The Office of the Data Protection Supervisor has already received queries regarding the removal of images from Google Street View," the government said in a statement.

We'll happily take the image down if you're not comfortable with your car or house being up there Luke Delaney, Google

A quick guide for how to get images removed is available on the government website.

The service, which obscures car registration plates and people's faces, has come under criticism in the UK for invading privacy.

Google's European policy associate Luke Delaney assured Manx people that they could request that images of their homes be removed.

Mr Delaney said: "On every image on the bottom left hand corner there's a report a problem [icon] and just by answering a couple of very simple questions you can have an image removed.

"We'll happily take the image down if you're not comfortable with your car or house being up there."

The service, first introduced in the UK in 2007, will eventually allow internet users to take a 360 degree virtual tour of every road in the British Isles.