What a week for Apple and Google!

Fresh from Viacom-gate that put the search giant at the heart of a privacy storm, Google this week was lambasted by none other than the Daily Mail for planning to roll out its Street View service in the UK. This is the extension to the widely used Google Maps that allows users to view maps at street level. Google hasn’t admitted it plans to introduce Street View to the UK but vans with “Google” splashed across them carrying 20 external cameras driving around our major cities kind of gives the game away.

What’s interesting about this is the press reaction to Street View compared with when it launched Google Maps. That launch was vaulted as further online innovation - a step in the right direction, one that will benefit millions of people.

So what’s changed? Why hasn’t Google’s face blurring technology quelled any unrest around this forthcoming launch? Well for one the Viacom story has caused people to question just how anonymous they are online, soon our personal viewing habits (legal and illegal) will be picked over by a media giant. But also it shows how consumers are becoming much more aware of how far the Internet has come. Whereas a couple of years ago we welcomed any kind of unique service that further opened up the world from the comfort of our PCs, we have now become more intrigued by the motives behind online behemoths that have all but lost their “do no evil” charm.

And it’s no bad thing…

Whilst the lawyers shouldn’t get in the way of innovation, I do think it’s important that as consumers we engage in the discussions that services like Street View throw up. If nothing else it will make Google look at how it treats the personal data we freely hand over every day. More importantly however it allows us to have a direct influence on how the online world is shaped and how it affects our offline lives. The Internet and the www is becomming more and more integrated with every aspect of our lives and we shouldn’t rely on the Googles of the world to dictate how it changes the way we work, rest and play.

Whether Street View is good or bad (personally I have no problem with it), the debate will bring the best out of Google and will ultimately benefit the people that use it.

As for Apple…well I’ll get to the iPhone launch later!