No view here

In a country where there is an estimated one camera for every 14 people, you would think one more camera would not cause a stir. But it did in Broughton, a village in southern England.

Villagers alerted to the roving eye of Google mobilized to stop the Internet firm from shooting images for its Google Street View. The service offers users 360-degree street-level views of homes and streets around the world.

The service has drawn objections from those who see it as yet another invasion of their privacy, making their homes and anything else visible through the camera lens prime targets for snooping eyes, maybe even burglars in a high-tech search for an easy mark.

Google defends the service, saying it is nothing different from what is already available on the Internet in other forms, such as property searches. Web cameras operated by cities and other agencies capture Americans and Britons going to work, shopping and sometimes in embarrassing situations.

In Great Britain, residents are watched on a network of 4.2 million cameras, but the Google intrusion was too much for Broughton resident Paul Jacobs.

When he saw the vehicle, he alerted his neighbors who blocked the road and forced the camera crew to leave, in a small victory to preserve what remains of privacy in a world of ever-increasing intrusions.