Privacy-Loving Couple Obtains ‘One Sweet Dollar of Vindication’ From Google
A Pittsburgh-area couple who sued Google Maps over its “Street View” feature have agreed to settle the case for $1.
A statement issued by Aaron and Christine Boring called the deal “one sweet dollar of vindication,” the Associated Press reports. Their lawsuit had claimed Google violated their privacy when its employees apparently traveled a private road marked “no trespassing” to obtain a photo of their house.
The Borings had sued for trespassing and invasion of privacy, but the Philadelphia-based 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals tossed the privacy claim, saying no person of ordinary sensibilities would have been offended by the photo.
Both sides will pay their own costs. The couple’s lawyer, Gregg Zegarelli, told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that his clients had considered the possibility that a loss would put them on the hook for Google’s legal costs but they chose to continue their suit.
Zegarelli told the newspaper that the dispute wasn’t about the money. Instead, he said, his clients were concerned about Google’s ability to assemble so much data on private individuals. “Sooner or later, there will be releases of data from that or leaks of that data,” he said. “Does everybody want to live in a world where Google has that sort of a power over all of that information?”
