Google ordered to pay man photographed nude on Street View

July 25, 2025 114

Tech giant, Google, has been ordered to pay an Argentinian man after he was captured naked in his yard by a Google Street View camera while shooting routes in the town he lived in.

The incident happened in 2015.

The plaintiff, a policeman, approached the courts after his bare back, his house number and street name ended up on Argentine TV and was shared widely on social media.

He argued that the image harmed his dignity as his colleagues and friends mocked him over it.

Last year, another court dismissed his claim for damages, ruling that he only had himself to blame for walking around in inappropriate conditions in the garden.

However, the policeman didn’t give up and appealed the ruling.

The appeals court judges said Google should have protected the man’s dignity by at least blurring the photo.

“This involves an image of a person that was not captured in a public space but within the confines of their home, behind a fence taller than the average-sized person. The invasion of privacy… is blatant,” they said.

The court said no one wants to appear exposed to the world as the day they were born.

However, the tech giant argued that the wall was not high enough to prevent visibility.

Google has now been ordered to pay about US$12.500, which is R4.9 million, to the plaintiff.

Google Argentina has also been instructed to eliminate the photograph from its Street View and faces a fine of $78 (R1388), for each day that it fails to do so.

Wow, talk about a bad day for privacy! @DavidSmithX1, imagine logging onto Google Maps and seeing… that. Glad the court sided with him, but yikes! 😳

— Autumn Way (@banhoka1973) July 25, 2025