C. Scott Brown / Android Authority
TL;DR
- A man was captured naked in his yard by a Google Street View camera.
- Appeals court judges ruled that the company “flagrantly violated” the man’s dignity.
- Google now has to pay the man around $12,500.
Street View is a Google Maps feature that offers a 360-degree view of any area at street level. This feature can come in handy when you want to virtually explore neighborhoods, landmarks, and more. These 360-degree views are stitched together from the numerous photos taken by the company’s specially-equipped vehicles. As these vehicles snap photos at various times of the day, sometimes these cameras capture some things they shouldn’t. That’s exactly what happened to a man from Argentina who just got a big payday from the tech giant.
As reported by CBS News, one of Google’s Street View cameras captured an Argentine police officer naked at his home while walking around in his garden. In addition to capturing the naked man in his yard, the cameras also captured his house number and street name. After the images were splashed up online and shared on social media, the man sought compensation from Google in 2017, arguing that the firm harmed his dignity and that he was behind 6.5-foot-high walls.
Last year, a court dismissed the man’s claims, suggesting that he only had himself to blame for “walking around in inappropriate conditions in the garden of his home.” However, the man went to an appeals court and managed to get the ruling overturned.
According to the outlet, appeals court judges have now ruled in the man’s favor, finding that Google had “flagrantly violated” his dignity. With this ruling, Google now has to pay the man the equivalent of around $12,500 in Argentine pesos. “This involves an image of a person that was not captured in a public space but within the confines of their home, behind a fence taller than the average-sized person,” the judges wrote. “The invasion of privacy … is blatant.”
Helping to seal the deal, the judges pointed to Google’s policy of blurring faces and license plates as evidence that the company is aware of its duty to prevent harm. Although Google is now forced to pay up, the other two accused entities in this case — telecoms company Cablevision SA and news site El Censor — were absolved. The court found that although their actions helped the image spread, it also served to “highlight the misstep committed by Google.”
On a help document for Google’s Street Views, the company notes that users can submit a report for an image to be censored. The option allows you to request for Google to blur imagery of your home.
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