New Delhi: A man in Argentina has won compensation from Google after a Street View camera captured him fully naked in his backyard, and the image ended up spreading across television and social media. The court found that his dignity had been “flagrantly violated” and ordered the tech giant to pay him around $12,500, which equals nearly ₹10.87 lakh in Indian currency.
The image was taken in 2017 and showed the man, a police officer, standing unclothed behind a 6.5-foot wall in the yard of his home in a small Argentine town. His house number and street were also clearly visible, leading to media coverage and widespread ridicule in his neighbourhood and workplace.
Google Street View: Judges say privacy was seriously breached
While a lower court had earlier rejected his demand for damages, arguing that he was responsible for being “inappropriate” in his own yard, the appeals court disagreed. Judges ruled that the man’s privacy had been breached, since the photograph was taken inside his private property and not on a public street.
“This involves an image of a person that was not captured in a public space but within the confines of their home, behind a fence taller than the average-sized person. The invasion of privacy… is blatant,” the judges wrote, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP), in a report published by CBS News.
The court found Google responsible for what it described as a “serious error” and said the company had no excuse to avoid liability. The judges noted, “There is no justification for (Google) to evade responsibility for this serious error that involved an intrusion into the plaintiff’s house, within his private domain, undermining his dignity.”
Blurring failed, but this time it wasn’t the face
Street View usually blurs faces and license plates automatically, something Google often highlights on its public policy page. But in this case, it wasn’t a face or number that needed hiding. It was the man’s entire backside.
The court pointed out, “It was not his face that was visible but his entire naked body, an image that should also have been prevented.” That failure, the judges said, added to the seriousness of the intrusion.
In its defence, Google had argued that the wall around the yard was not high enough, suggesting the camera could see over it. But the court did not agree, pointing instead to Google’s responsibility to protect people’s privacy, even from high angles.
Others cleared, but Google takes the hit
Along with Google, Argentina’s telecom company Cablevision SA and the news website El Censor were also named in the complaint, since they had reported on the incident. However, the court cleared them of any wrongdoing, saying they helped draw attention to the mistake, not cause it.
This isn’t the first time Google has landed in legal trouble over Street View. In 2019, the company paid a $13 million settlement after being accused of collecting private user data during its Street View mapping process. In another case from 2010, it had to pay $1 to a couple in Pittsburgh for trespassing.
Google’s Street View troubles keep surfacing
Google’s Street View service, meant to map public areas, has been under fire in different countries over privacy concerns. The company says users can request blurring of their house, car or themselves by using the “Report a problem” tool, but that did little to help this man in Argentina.
“No one wants to appear exposed to the world as the day they were born,” the judges wrote, summing up the issue in a sentence that’s both literal and true for many.