Street View: Google sued for displaying underwear!

A Japanese woman has sued Google for displaying her underwear in a photo taken by Street View. The underwear was hanging outside of her apartment on a clothes line.

The Telegraph has reported the news that a Japanese woman has started legal proceedings against Google, claiming damages of 600 000 yen, about 7 200 Dollars, for distress.

This "psychological distress" came about after Google’s Street View published a picture displaying her underwear hanging on a clothes line out the front of her previous apartment.

The Japanese woman realized this last spring when she decided to search her residence on Street View. The incriminating picture was removed in October at around the same time the complaint was made.

"I was overwhelmed with anxiety that I might be the target of a sex crime," the woman told a district court in Fukuoka. "It caused me to lose my job and I had to change my residence". She states that it is unacceptable that pictures of her underwear were taken.

The suit claims her existing obsessive-compulsive disorder was worsened by the anxiety brought on by the photo, as she feared that everything she was doing throughout the day was being secretly recorded.

It appears that Google unfortunately took the picture with the lady being physiologically fragile. Should Google therefore be responsible? In Japan, Google threw away their initial pictures taken by Street View due to the camera being too high with the results being that photos could be taken over some properties fences.