Couple: Google Maps Violates Our Privacy

Pittsburgh Couple Sues Google For Trespassing On Private Property To Take Photos Of House

(AP)  A western Pennsylvania couple sued Google Inc., saying pictures of their home that appear on the Web site's "Street View" feature violated their privacy, devalued their property and caused them mental suffering.

Aaron and Christine Boring bought the home in Franklin Park, a Pittsburgh suburb, in October 2006 for a "considerable sum of money," according to their 10-page lawsuit filed Wednesday in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court.

"A major component of their purchase decision was a desire for privacy," the lawsuit said.

The suit targets the Mountain View, Calif., company over images on its Web site, which allows users to find street-level photos by clicking on a map. To gather the photos, Google uses vehicles with mounted digital cameras to take pictures up and down the streets of major metropolitan areas.

The Borings say the images of their home on the Google site had to be taken from their long driveway, labeled "Private Road," and that violated their privacy.

"There's no merit to this action," Google spokesman Larry Yu said. "It is unfortunate litigation was chosen to address the concern because we have visible tools, such as a YouTube video, to help people learn about imagery removal and an easy-to-use process to facilitate image removal."

He said Google has links on the Web site that let property owners request that such images be removed if they cite a good reason and can confirm they own the property depicted.

"We absolutely respect that people may not be comfortable with some of the imagery on the site," Yu said. "We actually make it pretty easy for people to submit a request to us to remove the imagery."

Yu also said that if the Borings made such a request to Google, especially arguing that the images show a view from their private driveway, he is confident that the image would be removed.

The couple's attorney, Dennis Moskal, said that's not the point. He said the Borings' privacy was invaded when the Google vehicle allegedly drove onto their property. Removing the image doesn't undo that damage - nor will it deter the company from doing the same thing in the future, he said.

"Isn't litigation the only way to change a big business' conduct with the public?" Moskal said. "What happened to their accountability?"

Google, however, is not the only Web site with a photo of the Borings' property.

The Allegheny County real estate Web site has a photo, plus a detailed description of the home and the couple's name. The site contains similar information, including pictures, of nearly every property in the county.

Moskal said the county's image appeared to be less intrusive than Google's, but said there's no way to take a picture of the home from a public street.

Moskal said his clients did not wish to speak to the media. The Associated Press could not find a listed phone number for them.

The Borings paid $163,000 for the property, according to the county Web site. The county describes the home as a single-family, four-room bungalow with a full basement. The one-story frame home was built in 1916 and sits on a property that's a little less than 2 acres.

The home is 984 square feet with a fireplace and central heat and county assessors graded it as being in "Fair" condition. The county Web site does not mention the property's two detached garages and swimming pool, which are visible in the Google pictures and are mentioned in the couple's lawsuit.

[joebanana222]

Don't they know if they wrap their house in tin foil it can't be detected? or, if you wear a tin foil hat, the government cant steal your thoughts, but they can still watch you through your new "digital TV", why do you think the government "made" everyone change? In the same way they can put multiple stations on the same channel, they can have two way surveillance, and you payed for it. Apparently they haven't heard of "Google infra-red".

[newsterl]

welcome to the 21 century..
Posted by MichelleM99

More like welcome to 1984, welcome to Logans Run with govt spy cams everywhere, welcome to Soylent Green.

[newsterl]

Funniest thing is, CBS puts up a screen shot of the google image, and its clear enough that people can see the street name ''OakRidge Ln'' on it LOL, and with that one piece of info anyone can find the map as well as the details on their house by going to the county real estate page.
Not only that but CBS publishes much of the info found there.

[SuzieH212006]

This is the most retarded law suit ive heard of in a long time, I guess they need help paying off their morgage - so lets sue a random company for not really doing anything wrong and even when they offer to very simply and easily correct the problem, the couple says that''s not good enough, they took a f--in picture of your house big deal!!! Are you going to sure me for driving by your house and looking at it without your permission???

[newsterl]

They haven''''t realized that This issue being picked by media will make other people know where your home is.

Posted by airport1207

Or that their COUNTY will now be made aware that they have 2 garages and a swimming pool that doesn''t appear in their records and were probably put in WITHOUT the required permits, OOOPS!

[dinodavid220]

These people suck ***............

[airport1207]

They haven''t realized that This issue being picked by media will make other people know where your home is.

[estabwary]

So how do they want us to prove it is our house?

Give them MORE personal info?

[newsterl]

My own small county template they use on their web site has a list of appliances in the homes- jenn-aire, bidet, hot-tub, dishwasher, built-in stereo, the names of the ROOMS marked on the floor plans such as BEDROOM, home security system (perfect for would be rapists and burglars to use) etc

Dont believe it, do a google search for your own county assessors office web site, every county and state differs, but you will be shocked what they put up

As of the census of 2000, there were 12,926 people, 4,892 households, and 3,103 families residing in my county, and the county has an extremely detailed assessor''s office web site WITH photos, floor plans and more, so I have no doubt your own county will have at least this much data on their web sites as well- including searching by NAME as well as address, so if someone has your name they can find out your detailed real estate record, get your floor plans and other details- this includes say, your ex husband who wants to find your NEW residence.
I can think of a dozen ways this info can be used.

Time to protest your county''s use of this information on their web sites- force those who have a NEED to know such details about YOUR house- go down to the courthouse and SIGN for the paperwork- leaving a paper trail.

[newsterl]

If not, then Google didn''''t do anything either. In fact, there is no law prohibiting them from doing this, and in fact, under freedom of speech, etc. they have every right.
Posted by rudy654

If they are on a public road that is true, just like any tourist can take pics and post them on the web or their blogs.

"trucks drive up and down our residential street to photograph our home and publish those photos to the web is kinda creepy?
mascarponi"

What exactly *IS* ''the web''? it''s no different than any other mass media, so NO, tourists do it all the time, I see the pics on flickr.

everyones COUNTY ASSESSOR''S office also does the same, as well as publish it all on the county web sites nation wide.
Your COUNTY violates your privacy far more, they put up floor plans of your house, photos, measurements, list appliances (including home security systems), how much you PAID for the house, what your taxes are, condition, who your mortgage is held by and who you bought it from- all of this I consider private info that should ONLY be released on a need to know basis to potential BUYERS or insurance co- by the homeowner.

[obama8years]

Next there going to sue for everyone reading this news article without asking them. Pathetic

[michellem99-2009]

i have google,yahooh,msn as engines on computer. ye go in a business there is cameras..i can''t see them they are there. there on the city bus,just about every where. welcome to the 21 centary..

[rudy654-2009]

"Google did not ask them first.."

Answer: Google did not have to have their permission first.

[rudy654-2009]

So if the news shows a picture of someone''s house, is that an invasion of privacy? If not, then Google didn''t do anything either. In fact, there is no law prohibiting them from doing this, and in fact, under freedom of speech, etc. they have every right.

[flajoe1]

Here''s the link to have your house removed from Street View.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4ZdgH5n3XI

[gmond]

borrrring.

[dinodavid220]

Gosh......good thing GOOGLE didnt spill hot coffee on their driveway...what a bunch of boring idiots.....

[cbsblogger]

I actually hope they make a billion off of Google, because only when settlements start to go against this onslaught and invasion of our privacy by business and government is when the trend to elimination of this concept of privacy (actually it is a right not a concept) will be slowed.

[Marie Zarankevich]

Boy oh boy! -- I guess this was the Privacy they were looking for. -- Doesn''t seem like they really wanted privacy after all, or all this wouldn''t be going on, would it?

[nothappyatall]

According to my awstats on my web site, Google as a hit referrer in March accounted for 70.5%, the other 21+ search engines it lists accounted for the rest, with Windows live 11.4 and Yahoo 8.3.

Some of those if not all utilize Google for THEIR OWN searching since Google has the massive server farms the rest can''t afford.

So if Google vanished tomorrow, that would be 70% of my hits and sales, the web as we know it would grind to a halt.