German court acquitted methods of collecting information by Google Street View service

True, the case was very unusual. Probably, many of the users of Habr heard that in France, Google was obliged to pay 100 thousand euros in the case of illegal collection of information. The French court considered that it was illegal to photograph people on the streets without the permission of the “models” themselves, photographing houses without the permission of the owners. In addition, the French court featured a relatively recent case about collecting information from open Wi-Fi networks while recruiting material for Google Street View. All this served as a weighty argument for the court regarding the guilt of Google. In principle, 100 thousand euros for a corporation with a billion budget - a penny, but it is still a precedent, and quite indicative.

At the same time, in Germany, Google Street View service and methods of collecting information were justified, however, there was a slightly different case. The court considered the case on the suit of a woman, a German, who decided to protect herself from any possibility of falling on Google Street View maps. She filed a lawsuit about the possible violation of her privacy by Google. In other words, the German woman’s cunning fear for the safety of her personal life accuses Google that if Google Street View cars suddenly take a picture of her house, then the camera on the roof of the car may also take what is inside the house, within sight of the window .
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In general, a rather strange lawsuit, in response to the filing of which in our country, the judge would have twisted his finger at his temple would simply refuse to accept such a document. But in Germany, this case was considered, and the judge decided that the Google Street View service collects data using completely legal methods. It was in Germany, I remind you, that another case was previously considered when dissatisfied citizens demanded the possibility of removing themselves and their homes from Google Street View photos. In response, the corporation provided a technical opportunity to “blur over” people and houses in photographs; all that was needed was to leave the corresponding request.

In general, the new lawsuit added to the list of curious cases against Google Street View. Last year, by the way, the Japanese filed a lawsuit against Google Street View for the simple reason that photos of her underwear, photographed by one of the cars, got into the Web. Presumably, thousands of people rushed to look at this very lingerie after the case became famous - after all, before that, it was unlikely that anyone had to do with shorts on a string of underwear of Japanese citizens.

Via CNET