Legal Juice
Google probably gets sued everyday for some wacky reason. Add this one to the list – in the “Google satellite – underwear” category. As reported by The Mainichi Daily News:
A woman [in Fukuoka] is suing search-engine giant Google Inc., saying her psychological condition worsened after discovering that a search for her address brought up a photo of her underwear hanging out on her veranda.
The woman, who is in her 20s, filed suit against Google at the Fukuoka District Court for 600,000 yen [$7,162 US] in consolation money and other payments.
Opening arguments were held on Dec. 15. The woman said, “I was overwhelmed with anxiety that I might be the target of a sex crime. It caused me to lose my job, and I moved my residence.” Google said that it is hurrying to confirm the facts of the case.
According to the suit and other sources, the woman discovered the photograph in spring of this year when she used Google to do a search for the address of her Fukuoka apartment, where she lived alone.
The suit says the woman already had a form of obsessive compulsive disorder before seeing the photograph, and after seeing it her symptoms worsened. She began worrying that her activities were being secretly photographed throughout the day. She was fired from the hospital where she worked, and moved to a new residence.
After the court session, the woman told the Mainichi that around October, the month in which she filed the lawsuit, the image no longer came up when searching for the address in Google.
“I could understand if it was just a picture of the outside of the apartment, but showing a person’s underwear hanging outside is absolutely wrong,” said the woman.
So, if you have a clothes line up, you might want to … uh … gotta run!