The European Union’s data protection supervisor Peter Hustinx has joined the growing chorus of calls on Google to beware the pitfalls of its street-level photographic mapping service for Google Maps.

He told reporters that Street View should not be allowed to display photos of EU citizens on the site as Google faces problems in the U.S., where it is currently compiling street-level images of 30 cities and has been brought to task and even sued by people ranging from those snapped sunbathing, coming out of a sex shop, falling off their bikes and flashing the cameras.

Google has said that it is currently working on ways to automatically blur the faces of anyone their lenses snap so as to preserve their privacy (and, in some cases, their modesty); though with one couple having sued the company simply because their house was photographed it could become a more troublesome privacy area in the future.

The company has already removed certain street-level photographs at the request of the Pentagon for reasons of national security – photographs outlining approach routes to military and critical instillations, for example.

The idea of street level mapping is welcomed by many drivers however, as it adds another layer to navigation by satellite mapping that is quite useful to many drivers.