14 DAY TRIAL // Google is having some troubles over in Canada after the company was sued by a woman who got caught up in the Street View experiment. It’s not the fact that she was present in the images that bothered her, but the fact that even though her face was blurred out she was still easily identifiable by her coworkers.
That’s because the license plate of her car hadn’t been blurred out and she had been caught in a rather embarrassing position when, in front of her house, she leaned forward and exposed her cleavage just as Google’s Street View car was passing by.
GigaOm reports that Maria Pia Grillo tried to contact Google as soon as she discovered the image, but there was no response for several weeks, which pushed her to write a letter.
“I have informed myself as to my rights concerning this situation through the office of the privacy commissionars of Canada. Under the law my lisence plate should not appear. Moreover, from a safety and security standpoint, the information shown constitutes a total violation. This puts me, my house, my vehicule and my family members that I live with at the mercy of potential predators. I feel very vulnerable knowing that the information is available to anyone with internet access. The damage has been done,” she told the court later on.
Looking for compensation
Grillo says that in 2011 she asked Google to blur out more of the image , including most of her body and the license plate, asking for Google to pay her CAD $45,000 ($39,890 / €31,903) for the depression she suffered after her coworkers reacted to the image, mocking her.
While Google did agree to blur out the photo, it refused to pay the amount to Grillo on the grounds that she was in a public space when the photo was taken and Google didn’t feel responsible for the emotional harm she may have incurred.
Grillo later agreed to reduce the claim to CAD $7,000 ($6,205 / €4,963). The court, however, had other plans, as the judge decided that some monetary compensation was appropriate.
“In addition to malicious comments and humiliation she suffered at work, the plaintiff, in particular, has experienced a significant loss of personal modesty and dignity, two values that she held and are eminently respectable,” the Judge wrote in the ruling.
Google had to pay $2,250 (€1,800) plus interest and an additional $159 (€127) in court costs.