Woman Sues Google Because She Hung Her Underwear Outside, And Street View Caught It
from the uh,-maybe-hang-your-underwear-elsewhere dept
A woman in Japan is apparently suing Google for "psychological distress," after she discovered that the Street View image of her home displayed some of her underwear that she had hung out to dry on a clothesline. She claims that when she found this image, it made her fear that she would be a victim of a sex crime (does she not realize that nearly everyone has underwear?) and she started to fear that "everything she was doing throughout the day was being secretly recorded." Uh yeah. Hopefully the judge tosses this out pretty quickly, or soon you'll have lots of people purposely hanging their underwear in their front yards in order to sue Google and demand compensation. Here's a tip: maybe next time, if you're so worried about this, don't hang your underwear where a car driving by on the street can see it.![Hide This Hide this](https://ii.techdirt.com/s/t/i/topclose.png)
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Filed Under: japan, privacy, streetview
Companies: google
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True, but...
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Re: True, but... The Telegraph says
"The suit claims her existing obsessive-compulsive disorder was worsened
by the anxiety brought on by the photo, as she feared that everything she was
doing throughout the day was being secretly recorded."
Where would we get our entertainment if bad brain chemistry did not exist? /a thought
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Re: Re: True, but... The Telegraph says
I knew the economy was bad But do we really have to stoop to these low actions that are senseless to even sue for, if the Judge wards this woman compensation for this I think I am moving to Mars At least there According to Swartzeneggar I can get a new life. Lol
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Re: Re: Re: True, but... The Telegraph says
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Re: Re: Re: True, but... The Telegraph says
No, but you should probably buy a better toaster. One that doesn't get hot on the outside while in use.
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Re: Re: Re: Re: True, but... The Telegraph says
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Re: Re: Re: True, but... The Telegraph says
Slightly OT but I have to respond to this statement.
That lawsuit was not about hot coffee being hot. This was about a restaurant violating local safety ordinances, and someone being injured because of that violation.
The coffee in question wasn't just hot - it was over 130� degrees, which is a scalding temperature that can cause 2nd and 3rd degree burns. The local laws allowed for liquids to be served at 120� or less, which is easily achievable by setting your hot water tank correctly and using your kitchen equipment properly.
People cite this as an example of a frivolous lawsuit, but it's not a good example. A better example is the recent and well-publicized Starbucks unstable cup lawsuit, which was dismissed for being frivolous. Of course, that wouldn't prove that our court system lets frivolous cases by, so people don't like to mention that case.
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Re: Re: Re: Re: True, but... The Telegraph says
http://blogs.miaminewtimes.com/riptide/2010/11/arturo_carvajal_sues_north_mia.php
I think people need to be properly qualified to walk on the street too. In my township, we're working to create a "walking licensure" which runs $55 every four years. To acquire this license, operators of high-tech equipment called "shoes" must pass a shoelace test as well as a chewing gum test.
Oh, and please don't mock me. People need protection from this cruel, cruel world.
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: True, but... The Telegraph says
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Great Scott's
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Of course not for that one lady.
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You don't have drying-machines here. 99% of clothes get dried in the air. (It's 4-10C out here over the day currently and it's still air-drying for clothes)
Everybody accepts that looking at the clothes hanging out is rude and so it's highly avoided.
There is a reasonable expectation of privacy for 'clothes hanging out' here in Japan.
The woman is still highly overreacting (due to her mental illness) and it's fully over the top with a lawsuit.
Maybe Google might add a 'clothes blurring' filter to Japanese streetview so stuff like this won't happen anymore, but that's already based on good will.
But please, don't apply US American standards to everything.
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Re:
It's sad that while this lands here, attacks on Freedom of Speech in Japan (Tokyo) specifically don't get covered by Techdirt. Guess it's only important as long as a US Company is involved.
(Possibly NSFW) http://www.sankakucomplex.com/2010/12/15/tokyo-manga-ban-signed-into-law/
http://online.wsj.com/art icle/SB10001424052748704098304576021092499410726.html
and other sources are available.
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Re:
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You will discover very quickly that it gets black and most people just hang their clothes inside their homes.
But that is not the only place, in most big cities is difficult to spot clothes hanging outside, specially female underwear since the latest scares of perverts that collected those underwear were caught, but I guess in rural areas people still hang those clothes outside.
Japan from the outside seems one big culture, but it is not.
Go to Okinawa and they have their own dialect, go to Osaka and they are know to be rude, go to Tokyo and you see decadent culture and so on.
If you were to go to Iiama you probably need to put bars on the windows so they don't brake because of the snow that can reach 5 meters high in some locations, there is no hanging clothes outside there either.
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Evaporative cooling effects, if you clip those little plastic hangers on the curtains rails it helps to cool down the ambient.
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It will come back black with soot to the inside of your home.
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Just because I'm paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get me
Which makes it even more ridiculous for her to be worried about it being caught on Street View.
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culture....
Now, of course, the whole world has clicked the link to check out her underwear. Streisand effect in a *big* way.
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Re: culture....
hmmm interesting
XD
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Oh gods
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Re: Oh gods
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Being culturally ignorant is never a good thing for a company, even one as big as Google. it certainly isn't any good for TD either.
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More Striesand Effect than cultural misunderstanding.
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Re: Re:
As someone else posted, Japanese people are willfully blind and specifically avoid other people's laundry. It is impolite, and certainly not something that anyone would document on film / digitally for others to enjoy.
So there are two things in play here. First, there is the point that while it is technically possible to take the picture, it is culturally unacceptable and makes people uncomfortable.
Second, it is question of what arrogance it takes for some guy in the Bay Area to tell people in Japan how they should live. It smacks of Americanism at it's worst, and show the TD man to be more than slightly ignorant of other cultures. Instead of mocking the woman, perhaps he should have taken the time to understand first.
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Your answer exposes the current moral bankruptcy of most younger people. Just because you can doesn't make it right.
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Anyone can make snap judgements about an entire culture or generation based on small pieces of mis/information. Doesn't mean they should.
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Re:
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Because it's culturally unacceptable to walk around naked in the middle of the street, there are "indecent exposure" laws.
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*dry
Not "try"
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Still, launching a lawsuit was a bad move. From the article, it sounds like Google removed the picture as soon as they found out about it. If she'd just written them a complaint, the matter would've been resolved without all the global attention.
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Women are the ones that clean male communal bathing areas.
Just go early in the morning or late at night before it closes and you see who cleans those places.
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www.Pee2PeeNet.net
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Undie pics, please.
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?Woman Sues Google Because She Hung Her Underwear Outside'
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as a hellof a lot dont
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come on!
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come on!
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