without streetview or photos on a public website, only people who are actually passing by my house can see it.
otherwise it is visible to the whole world. that is a drastic difference for a privacy conscious person.
or consider for example me posting a picture of my house without giving any address. there is nothing identifying except the building. with streetview you could potentially find my address. why should you be able to do that?
sure, streetview is nice to use, but i think privacy concerns are real.