Argentine man awarded $12,500 after Google Street View car snaps him naked, posts it on social media

Tech giant Google was forced to pay an Argentine man $12,500 by a local court after he was photographed completely naked in his backyard by a Google Street View car. Yes, you heard that right. In fact, the photographs were reportedly published online for all to see. The case definitely raise some questions about privacy, technology, and responsibility in a digital world.

Despite being behind a 6-foot-6 wall, the man, a police officer by profession, claimed the 2017 picture harmed his dignity as he became a subject of ridicule at work and among his neighbours, reported CBS News.

While posting the picture on the internet, Google did not blur the man's house number or the street name. Google policies in regard to privacy violations are actually stringent as in such cases faces usually get automatically blurred by their systems, and users can report the problem further with Google’s “Report a problem” feature.

In 2019, the man appealed in a lower court but his plea was dismissed suggesting he may not have covered up himself in the yard. However, he appealed in a higher court that reversed the decision this month. Google, in its argument claimed that the perimeter wall was not tall enough to give him any reasonable expectation of privacy.

However, the court gave the ruling in favour of the man and said, "This involves an image of a person not captured in a public space, but within the confines of their home, behind a fence taller than the average-sized person".

The court went on to call Google’s act “a blatant invasion of privacy.”

Other parties, like a telecom company and a local news outlet responsible for helping spread the image, were spared by the court that said their actions simply highlighted Google’s initial blunder.