Man awarded $12,500 after Google Street View camera captured him naked in his yard in Argentina

An Argentine captured naked in his yard by a Google Street View camera has been awarded compensation by a court after his bare behind was splashed over the internet for all to see.

The policeman had sought payment from the internet giant for harm to his dignity, arguing he was behind a 6 1/2-foot wall when a Google camera captured him in the buff, from behind, in small-town Argentina in 2017.

His house number and street name were also laid bare, broadcast on Argentine TV covering the story, and shared widely on social media.

The man claimed the invasion exposed him to ridicule at work and among his neighbors.

Another court last year dismissed the man’s claim for damages, ruling he only had himself to blame for “walking around in inappropriate conditions in the garden of his home.”

Google, for its part, claimed the perimeter wall was not high enough.

Appeals judges, however, concluded the man’s dignity had been flagrantly violated, and awarded him an amount in Argentine pesos equivalent to about $12,500, payable by Google.

“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.”

And they found 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.”

The judges pointed to Google’s policy of blurring the faces and license plates of people and vehicles photographed for Street View as evidence it was aware of a duty to avoid harm to third parties.

But in this case, “it was not his face that was visible but his entire naked body, an image that should also have been prevented.”

The court absolved co-accused telecoms company Cablevision SA and news site El Censor of liability for the image spreading, saying their actions had “helped highlight the misstep committed by Google.”

On a website about its Street View policy, Google says it has implemented measures to protect the privacy of people when images is published to Google Maps.

“We have developed cutting-edge face and license plate blurring technology that is designed to blur identifiable faces and license plates within Google-contributed imagery in Street View,” Google says.

The company adds that “if you would like us to blur your entire house, car, or body, submit a request using the “Report a problem” tool.”

In 2019, Google reportedly agreed to pay a $13 million settlement over the company’s collection of people’s private information through its Street View project.

In 2010, Google acknowledged that it trespassed when it took a photo of a Pittsburgh-area house for its Street View service, but only paid $1 in damages to a couple who sued.