Google Pays The Borings $1 For 'Damages' From Having A Street View Car Enter Their Driveway

from the symbolically-boring dept

Fri, Dec 3rd 2010 4:01pm — Mike Masnick

Just a quick post here, closing the loop on a story we've covered for a few years. You may recall that a couple with the surname Boring, sued Google, when they discovered their house was on Street View -- saying that it violated their privacy and "devalued" their property. The court quickly tossed the lawsuit, noting that there was no evidence of damage from the photos, and Google offered easy-to-use tools to opt-out of Street View. The Borings appealed, focusing on a trespassing claim -- saying that the car went up a private road to photograph their house -- and the court was sympathetic that there may have been some trespassing, but not much harm seemed likely. So, it looks like the whole matter is now over, since Google has agreed to pay the couple a grand total of $1 to settle the claims and move on with everyone's lives.

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Filed Under: borings, street view
Companies: google

17 Comments

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Daryl, 3 Dec 2010 @ 4:04pm

Way to pay up Google.
Talk about hitting the lottery. Im sure they are at the Mercedes Benz dealership as we speak.
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- Anonymous Coward, 3 Dec 2010 @ 5:18pm
  
  Re: Way to pay up Google.
  You forgot an "r" there.
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- Anonymous Coward, 4 Dec 2010 @ 10:08am
  
  BORING!
  who cares?
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average_joe (profile), 3 Dec 2010 @ 4:32pm

That's what they call "nominal damages." I'm not familiar with the story, but it seems this must have been about the principle of the thing more so than damages. If that's the case, they are probably happy with the result.
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Anonymous Coward, 3 Dec 2010 @ 4:38pm

Current minimum wage law in Pennsylvania means they could've made $1 by working for 8 minutes and 17 seconds. Compare with this lawsuit, which went on for 2 years and 8 months.
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RandomGuy (profile), 3 Dec 2010 @ 4:52pm

They sound like an exciting couple
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Anonymous Coward, 3 Dec 2010 @ 4:56pm

Way to stick it to the man!!
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Brian (profile), 3 Dec 2010 @ 5:11pm

I wonder if the lawyers for Google grabbed what change they had in their pockets at the time and just paid them the dollar out of that XD
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Anonymous Coward, 3 Dec 2010 @ 5:27pm

Boring
What a Boring story.
(sorry, couldn't resist)
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Jon Noowtun, 3 Dec 2010 @ 6:46pm

See?!!!! The courts are finally realizing that Gargle's Sneak View is committing an illegal act by photographing people's homes without permission!!!!! This couple should have been awarded much more for all the suffering that Goggle caused them!!!!!

www.Pee2Peenet.net
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- abc gum, 4 Dec 2010 @ 9:02am
  
  Re:
  "Gargle's Sneak View is committing an illegal act by photographing people's homes without permission"
  
  Wrong.
  
  Possibly you missed the part about trespass upon private property. The GoogVehicle drove up the Boring driveway and that was worth one dollar in us currency.
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Anonymous Coward, 3 Dec 2010 @ 9:28pm

They spend thousands on a lawsuit to get one dollar. Where do I sign up?
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Joseph, 4 Dec 2010 @ 6:23am

Bloodsucking Lawyers
The worst part is that after paying the lawyers' contingency fee the people were only left with 60 cents.
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Jim, 4 Dec 2010 @ 12:25pm

".....and Google offered easy-to-use tools to opt-out of Street View."

Somebody want to explain that comment from the article? I do not believe you can opt out of Street View. You can have faces and license plates blurred but that is all I am aware of.
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- Mikael (profile), 5 Dec 2010 @ 1:26pm
  
  Re:
  Actually you CAN request to have an image removed in its entirety according to this article http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2007/06/want_off_street/
  
  You can also click on the link to report an image on street view and get it removed that way too. http://www.quickonlinetips.com/archives/2009/03/remove-face-house-car-from-google-street-view/
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Anonymous Coward, 5 Dec 2010 @ 6:58am

Who paid the court costs? Hopefully Google!
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- Anonymous Coward, 5 Dec 2010 @ 2:53pm
  
  Re:
  RTFA - each side paid their own fees
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