Google fined $2,250 for capturing woman’s cleavage with Street View photos

Google fined $2,250 for capturing woman’s cleavage with Street View photos

Google has been fined CAD $2,250 (Canadian dollars) for a Street View image that captured a Canadian woman’s cleavage. The Canadian judge has demanded Google to pay the woman a sum of $2,250 plus interest and an additional $159 in court fees.

According to Le Journal de Montreal, Maria Pia Grillo suffered a shock and severe embarrassment when she looked up her house using Google Maps’ Street View feature in 2009 and discovered an image of her leaning forward which exposes her cleavage.

Two years later, the Canadian woman started legal proceedings against Google to “blur out the rest of her including her license plate and her address”. She also demanded the company to pay her a sum of $45,000 for emotional damage which included depression and mockery from her co-workers at a “well-known bank” where she worked. She claimed that taunts were of such a nature that she had to resign from work.

Google did agree to blur out more of the image, it rejected her money claims on the grounds that she was in a public place and that there was no connection between the Street View incident and her emotional troubles.

The judge also agreed that the Street View incident did not appear to be directly connected to the mental conditions that she claimed. He also pointed out as to why Maria waited two years to start her legal case. The judge rejected Google’s defense of being in a public place and said that people cannot forfeit their privacy rights simply by being in a location others can see them.