Google naked Street View picture wins angry man more than £9,000 compensation

A man who was caught naked in his garden by aGoogle Street View car has been awarded a large compensation pay out.

A vehicle was taking images of a small town in the province of Buenos Aires in Argentina when it captured the man’s bare backside while he was on his patio. The images were uploaded onto the internet for all to see and the red-faced man has now been awarded £9,000 compensation by a judge who ruled that Google had invaded his privacy. The man, who is a police officer, claimed that he was standing behind a two-metre wall when he was pictured during the incident in 2017. And to his embarrassment the case went viral on social media as well as being covered on local television.

Seeking compensation for the upset, the man took legal action and he said that especially due to his position as a policeman he had been left a laughing stock.

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But his claim was initially dismissed last year with it ruled then that it was his fault as he was “walking around in inappropriate conditions in the garden of his home”. It was also said by a judge that "the only person able to identify who the naked person was, was the actual man".

At the same time Google had said that the wall around his home was not high enough, while the judge concluded that the "policeman shot himself in the foot" by his own actions, reported La Nacion.

But on appeal judges have now overturned that decision and ordered him to receive the equivalent of £9,300 in compensation.

"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 average-sized person. The invasion of privacy... is blatant," they wrote.

The judges said "there is no doubt that in this case there was an arbitrary intrusion into another's life". They also concluded that 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. No one wants to appear exposed to the world as the day they were born."

Street View stitches together billions of panoramic images to provide a virtual representation of our surroundings on Google Maps. Street View's content comes from two sources - Google and contributors. On its website, Google says: "Through our collective efforts, we enable people everywhere to virtually explore the world.

"360 imagery helps you know where to go and what to expect when traveling. Explore world-famous landmarks, galleries, and museums right from your device, or turn the clock back with Street View historical imagery to see how a location has changed over time."