The headline is catchy — only if you are following the issue close enough to know the name of the case is Boring v. Google. Not a good one from a journalism prospective because it does not exactly encourage you to keep reading so my old Mizzou J-School professors would not be pleased.
Background: The Borings sued Google because the Google streetview cameras went down a road marked private and no trespassing to photograph the Borings’ house. Once the images were published, the Borings sued for invasion of privacy and trespass. The trial judge threw out the case because the Borings did not suffer any damages and there was no invasion of privacy because the image was simply the house and not the Borings themselves.
The court of appeals sent the case back to the trial court saying a trespass is a trespass and the jury may award $1 as damages. In other words, the Borings did not really have to prove any actual damages allowing the jury to determine Google should not have trespassed and therefore may have to pay the Borings something. The invasion of privacy claim is still dismissed. You can read more about the lawsuit from Professor Goldman’s blog here.
I still get puzzled looks from folks when I show them what’s available through Streetview and many of them express some level of discomfort. The court left open the possibility for an invasion of privacy claim if the cameras capture individuals when there is some expectation of privacy. Professor Goldman wrote:
the court’s ruling suggests that publishing online photos of private property categorically can’t qualify as a privacy violation, whether the photos are taken on public or private property.
I disagree. I would think that if someone broke into your home and took pictures of your bedroom or perhaps some unmentionables in your bedroom, you could tack on an invasion of privacy claim to your trespass claim. There is probably a spectrum of what types of property (real or personal) deserve some expectation of privacy.
I’ve checked out the Streetview image of my house. I can tell it was taken when the school near our house was letting out. Otherwise, pretty boring. I wish I would have known when they were coming so I could have done something to make into the list of 20 crimes captured by Streetview or the Craziest Google Streetview shots of All Time (thanks again to Professor Goldman for originally posting these links, too).
