Google and 1984: privacy issues

I suppose my recent blogs have been mostly comparisons between events that happen and literature. So I might as well continue to follow the trend.

With the latest unfolding of the Google Maps Street View, is it possible that we are seeing the trending toward Big Brother from 1984? Or are people being too anxious? Are we losing our privacies?

According to a dictionary definition, privacy means

the state or condition of being free from being observed or disturbed by other people.

Based on this definition, Big Brother is a loss of privacy. But how about Google Maps and other google tools, such as personalized search / news? Considering that google has been storing user information and search tracks, are we at a loss of privacy here? According to the dictionary definition, google search is a violation of privacy. Google Maps, on the other hand, is not a violation of privacy as long as the people do not appear on there or if they are blurred, as suggested by the article below.

How far should the issue of privacy be taken? And how much should we be concerned?

Taken to the extreme, almost anything can be viewed as privacy violation. For example, taking a photo with people you do not know in the photo. In this case, people would view it as being too extreme, and do not view it as a privacy violation. The question that follow then is this: how much is acceptable? The example is acceptable, but when the photo is shared publicly, is it still acceptable? Is it more acceptable for the photos to appear in Flickr or yahoo! photo, than Google Maps even if they are the exact same pictures?

What does it mean to have your privacy violated?

http://www.itwire.com.au/content/view/12600/1103/