Google Street View Fuels Privacy Lawsuit

One of Google’s more popular slogans is “Don’t be evil.” A new one may turn out to be “Complete privacy does not exist.” ReputationDefender Blog recently ran into this interesting story about digital privacy and Google Street View.

Google Street View

Pennsylvania residents Aaron and Christine Boring filed an invasion of privacy lawsuit against Google earlier this year because images of their home were published on the popular engine’s “Street View” mapping feature. Google has moved to dismiss, arguing that the couple:

live in a residential community in the twenty-first-century United States, where every step upon private property is not deemed by law to be an actionable trespass.

Google’s legal eagles go on to assert that

Today’s satellite-image technology means that even in today’s desert, complete privacy does not exist. In any event, Plaintiffs live far from the desert and are far from hermits.

The photos, such as they are, do not reveal much of the Boring home (no pun intended), and appear to be from the couple’s driveway, which is allegedly a private road in its own right. Google’s motion notes that the company intends to prove that there was no sign designating the road as private. True to their first motto, Google has removed its “Street View” photos of the Boring residence after the couple filed its lawsuit.

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