Hot on the heels of reader Ziad al-Hasso's clocking of Google's Street View spycar in London, Scott MacLeod brings us chilling evidence of the search monolith's ambitions to expose the entire UK to international scrutiny:

The vehicle in question was snapped around two weeks ago in Inverness, and if you compare the number plate with that of the London snoopmobile, it's clear Google has an entire fleet of Opels sniffing around Blighty's highways and byways - as confirmed by other recent sightings in Birmingham, Cardiff and Edinburgh.

Concerned citizens are, however, not going to take this invasion of Orwellian budget family cars lying down. Privacy International has raised the matter of Street View with the Information Commissioner's Office, and an ICO operative yesterday confirmed to El Reg: "Yes, we have received a complaint about this and we are looking into it. We are contacting Google to get more details of the scheme." ®

Related stories

• El Reg in Street View drive-by snooping (24 October 2008)
• Google's Street View fleet - 100 spots and counting (9 September 2008)
• Privacy watchdog hoists Google by its own petard (1 August 2008)
• Google: 'Even in the desert, privacy does not exist' (31 July 2008)
• UK data watchdog gives Google spycar fleet the greenlight (31 July 2008)
• Cops slap ticket on Street View spycar (25 July 2008)
• El Reg nails Street View spycars to Google Maps (15 July 2008)
• Updated El Reg net closes on Street View fleet (11 July 2008)
• Google's spycar revs up UK privacy fears (7 July 2008)
• Google's Street View spycar clocked in London (2 July 2008)
• US town tells Street View to push off (2 June 2008)