Couple Sues Google Over Street View of Its House
We are all in agreement, Google Street View is freaking creepy, but is it lawsuit worthy? Aaron C. and Christine A. Boring (yes, their real names) are suing Google because images of their home appear on Google Maps' Street View. According to the Boring suit filed in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Oakridge Lane is a private road and the "reckless conduct" of Google has "exposed plaintiff's private information to the public."
Never mind that there is clearly no Private Road sign at the beginning of Oakridge Lane when viewing it in Google Maps Street View, or that photos of the Boring home, its approximate value, taxes paid, and details of the internal structure are all available on the Allegheny County Web site.
All of that is even completely irrelevant, since taking photographs of homes from public streets is clearly protected by the First Amendment. Just ask Barbara Streisand who sued an aerial mapping company for including photographs of her home in its products. Streisand lost that suit and was forced to pay the companies legal fees.
From Newsvine
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Linda Giffen @ Apr 8th 2008 10:37AM
These people need to get a life. Do charity work or go back to school. Who the HELL cares?
McKinney Texas @ Apr 8th 2008 1:54PM
This is a completely frivolous lawsuit and almost laughable. I say almost because lawsuits like these are a drain on tax payers. They claimed Mental Anguish and devalued property as two of the reasons for the lawsuit... seriously? Talk about a weak "get rich quick scheme".
Joshua Harley @ Apr 8th 2008 2:08PM
P.S. I know you said that it was creepy but I use it on my real estate website for Dallas http://www.TexasHomeCentral.com. It allows my relocation clients to get a better feel for an area before they fly out to tour homes. That way they can further narrow down the homes we look at which saves them a lot of wasted time on the road. I for one love it.
Fred @ Apr 9th 2008 9:54AM
More here:
http://streetviewgallery.corank.com
retro77 @ May 15th 2008 6:47PM
Uh, address is public record.