Google is being forced to pay a five-figure sum to a man who was photographed in the nude at his house in Argentina. His bare cheeks were posted on the internet!
The court of appeals finally ruled in his favor.
This eight-year-long legal battle first became an issue in 2017. A small-town Argentine police officer was out in his yard without any clothes on when Google drove one of its ‘Street View’ camera cars past his home. The resulting image was posted on Google Maps. He was naked on the internet.
Google blamed the man.
As you could imagine, the man was subject to ridicule when news of this nude photo reached the community. His neighbors and coworkers would not let it go. It’s hilarious!
However, it was not quite as funny for the man who was photographed in the buff. He decided to sue Google for emotional damages.
The court initially ruled against him, saying he only had himself to blame for “walking around in inappropriate conditions in the garden of his home.” Google argued that the perimeter wall to the man’s garden was not tall enough, thus, it was his own fault.
That initial ruling has since been overturned.
The man and the court blamed Google.
Appeals judges decided to rule in favor of the naked man because his dignity was violated.
“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 averaged-sized person,” they wrote. “The invasion of privacy is blatant.”
According to CTV News, Google will be forced to pay out approximately $12,500. The judges pointed to the IT corporation’s blurring of faces and license plates on Street View as evidence it was aware of its duty to avoid harm to the people. In this case, it failed to blur the image of the Argentine man’s body.
That was more than enough proof for the appeals court to overturn the initial ruling. It found there was ““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.” Fair enough!