Filed under: Etc.


Google Street View is a cool Google Maps feature, but it would appear that one of the Street View driver/camera operators in the Pittsburgh, PA area needs to exercise a little more common sense when recording the lay of the land. The same might be said for some of the admins who actually publish the Street View imagery to the Google web farm mothership. The Smoking Gun references Aaron and Christine Boring's lawsuit filed against Google for invading their privacy via a Street View image of their home (Google calls the litigation "unfortunate" and says it has "no merit"). The search giant has since yanked the offending photo, but TSG points out that a neighboring home also got the Extremely Up Close And Personal Treatment courtesy of one of the camera-equipped Chevy Cobalts.

The latter property belongs to the McKee family. Theirs is the only home on Goldenbrook Lane, a gravel path that becomes a paved driveway marking where the McKee's private property begins. As you can see from the top photo, the transition is plainly obvious. The Street View car drove down the driveway, right to the family's garage, shooting all the way. As a result, anyone surfing Google Maps could take a virtual walk from the nearest cross-street, down the driveway, and up to the McKee's kids' trampoline. That's not cool, and for her part, Mrs. McKee described the idea of someone filming their home in this manner as being "a little creepy." Gee, ya think? Even if the photos were taken as a result of a driver misunderstanding (perhaps he didn't know he'd be dead-ended in a private residence's driveway), the intrusive images never should have been published. Who's vetting this stuff?

The Smoking Gun has a full step-by-step gallery posted here.

[Source: The Smoking Gun, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]
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