Most civil lawsuits are about the money, even when the issues raised are serious ones. So it is refreshing that a federal lawsuit brought by a Franklin Park couple against Google Inc. was settled for $1 in Pittsburgh this week. The issue raised in this case was unusually interesting, pitting the right to privacy against the abundant data available online and the purposes to which it may be put.
The lawsuit was filed by Aaron and Christine Boring, who objected to an image of their house being posted on the Internet by Google as part of its Street View feature. According to their attorney, Gregg R. Zegarelli, the issue was the implication that Google can assemble unlimited data on people.
The headline says “not all the world is public.” But surely the front of your house *is* public, isn’t it?
and the back and sides too – check out bird’s eye view on Bing’s maps (better than than what Google has frankly). our entirely private 800 acre community is in full view, and really I could care less.
Except in the case of the couple in the article, the Google Street-View car driver trespassed by driving down a private drive to take a picture of the house which was apparently hidden from the road.