Honestly – I think many of us knew something like this was eventually going to happen.
In a story, reported in The Telegraph, a Japanese woman is suing Google for displaying images of underwear hanging on her washing line on its Street View function.
The woman, who has not been named, is suing Google for 600,000 Yen ($7,000 USD) claiming the images caused her psychological distress. She also claims that her existing obsessive-compulsive disorder was worsened by the anxiety brought on by the photo, as she feared that everything she was doing throughout the day was being secretly recorded.
The first hearing in the case was held this week and the woman stated, “…I was overwhelmed with anxiety that I might be the target of a sex crime,” the woman told a district court. “It caused me to lose my job and I had to change my residence.”
According to the suit, the woman first saw the photo on Google this spring when she did a search for her own apartment, where she lived alone.
So what do you think? Is Google really at fault for this? Obviously there was nothing purposefully negligent in the Google car driving down the road snapping pictures for Street View, but it does bring about conversations of privacy and corporate responsibility.
Thoughts ?
Related articles
- Woman sues Google over Street View underwear shot (holykaw.alltop.com)
- Google sued for showing underwear on Street View (news.cnet.com)
Normally what happens is that you tell Google about anything objectionable and they cleverly remove it from the pictures. But now more and more people would be hanging their underwear once they know Google is coming to their area 😀
Good one !