"Complete Privacy Does Not Exist," Says Google
You may remember in April when we reported that the Boring family was suing Google over images of their home appearing in Google Map's Street View. Now, Google has filed its brief with the court that is basically legalese for "you've got to be kidding me."
The main thrust of Google's argument is that "complete privacy does not exist" because of technology. The search giant countered the Boring's claim of invasion of privacy by stating that the family "lives 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... 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 dismissive and frankly cocky nature of Google's may put some off, but we can't help but agree with them. Photos of the outside of a home hardly constitutes an invasion of privacy, especially if more detailed photos are already available on a public county Web site. [Source: The Smoking Gun]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Ethan @ Aug 6th 2008 6:28AM
I say that as long as Google makes it so that if you walked down the street you couldn't see anymore in a home as you can on their service I'm fine with their service, but if they start making it so that you can see into lets say someones home other then through the window then I would have a problem.