Last month's rumours that Google were gathering images for a European version of its Street View feature on Google Maps were true. Google Street View is set to be launched in Europe this year, but the internet giant will blur the faces of anyone that appears in the images in an attempt to avoid breaking European privacy laws.

Launched last May, Street View provides the user with access to street-level images of a number of cities in the US. But there have already been a number of lawsuits brought against Google in the US for alleged breaches of privacy caused by images featured on Street View.

Google has recently relaunched its Street View of Manhattan with the faces of passers-by that were inadvertently snapped pixellated out. It seems that this will be the model used for the European version of Street View unless they have Matlock representing them, as they run the risk of suffereing the wrath of strict European privacy laws.

Check out Google Street View