Google says “complete privacy does not exist” – Internet – iTnews Australia
By Iain Thomson
31 July 2008 07:57AM
In a submission to court Google is arguing that in the modern world there can be no expectation of privacy.
Google is being sued by a Pennsylvania couple after their home appeared on Google’s Street View pages. The couple’s house is on a private road clearly marked as private property.
“Today’s satellite image technology means that even in today’s desert, complete privacy does not exist,” says Google’s submission.
“In any event, the Plaintiffs live far away from the desert and are far from hermits.”
The couple are suing Google for US$25,000 in damages, saying that the value of their property has been damaged and say they have suffered “mental stress”.
This is not the first time Google’s Street View has got the company in to trouble. The EU is arguing that people’s faces should be blurred out of images displayed.
The Street View program aims to photograph every street in the world and place the photographs online. A team of specially converted cars with cameras mounted on the roof are in constant action around the world.
Google is taking a page out of George W Bush’s playbook by claiming that people shouldn’t expect privacy on their own property, and that we should just ‘trust’ Google to ‘do no evil’.
I say we run with their idea that privacy does not exist! Let’s throw a party on the front lawn of the Google founders! I am sure that they will agree that anything good for Google is good for us! This week Sergey’s place, next week at Larry’s. Who is game? Can someone create a meet-up, or a tribe, and post the info here as a comment?
-Chris
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