Suit against Google Street View continues – for $1
Google Street View, the up close and personal pictures taken from street level almost all over the world and available from within Google maps, is still having problems with lawsuits, this time in Pennsylvania.
A couple in Pittsburgh sued Google in 2008 for taking street view photos of their “secluded” home, just as they did the homes of everyone else in Pittsburgh, and for that matter, in America. After an earlier win by the homeowners, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals decided this week that, “It may well be that, when it comes to proving damages from the alleged trespass, the Borings are left to collect one dollar and whatever sense of vindication that may bring. For now, it is enough to note that they ‘bear the burden of proving that the trespass was the legal cause, i.e., a substantial factor in bringing about actual harm or damage’ if they want more than a dollar.”
The Borings had originally sued for trespass and invasion of privacy, asking $25,000 in damages for the latter. Obviously, the appeals court did not agree. The case can go forward with with the understanding that damages over a dollar will likely not be awarded. The trespass case has not yet been fully decided. The relevant precedent law was made in an invasion of privacy case during a coal miner’s strike, in which it was decided that the bringer of such a suit had to prove actual damages before large sums could be awarded. The appeals court saw none in the case brought by the Borings, no matter how imaginative that case was.
And, according to a story on CNET, it was imaginative indeed. The lawyers for the plaintiff conjured up vision of slavery (somehow), the American right to be left alone, and any number of other silly claims. This is one just more lawsuit among millions, filed for no good reason other than personal aggrandizement and enrichment, by someone with too much money and too much free time. Suits like this clog the courts, increase our taxes, and line the pockets of attorneys with gold, without doing much of anything to advance the causes of society.
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January 31st, 2010
Sometimes it’s not about the money; Michael Jones seems to lose sight of the fact that there’s some merit in a court ruling that establishes that a corporate behemoth cannot trespass with impunity on a citizen’s property.
Of course, given Google’s prominent advertising role on tech.blorge, it’s understandable that Jones would overlook this perspective and instead feel compelled to suck up to the corporate behemoth.
February 23rd, 2010
we all suck up to the ones who pay us the most. What is being lost in this suit is the fact that a corporation can take pictures of your personal residence and post them on the internet without your knowledge or consent. Seems to me that it’s the basis for an invasion of privacy. Now I can be denied employment, credit, etc based solely on the appearance of my home, being that it’s so easy to get a person’s address and examine it from the comfort of your own computer. What’s really interesting is that you can actually see inside some of the homes. The potential for abuse is incredible and is currently unchecked.