It would appear that Google is being sued by the owners of a house in the Franklin Park suburb of Pittsburgh because the search giants photographed the property and included it in the Google Maps street view feature.
Why anyone would want to take an interest in the boring house, yes according to the reports the couple who have sued are called Aaron and Christine Boring, is beyond me. It pretty much lives up to the boring tag. However, the complaint states that "a major component of their purchase decision was a desire for privacy" and it is that privacy which has been violated according to the Borings, along with a devaluation of the property. I am not 100 percent sure how it is devalued, but there you go. They do have a point regarding privacy though, as it would appear the Google snappers had to drive up a driveway clearly marked as private in order to take the photographs.
Of course, the real irony is that no court case was required as Google will happily remove photographs upon the request of the proven owner whereas now that the litigation has attracted publicity there are photos of the house popping up all over the web. Not least the Allegheny County real estate site which reveals information about most every property in the county, including photos. In the case of the Boring house, it tells us how much the couple paid for it, the size of the house and the land attached, how many rooms it has and so on.
Google Street viewers wanting to find something more interesting, such as a headless man and a giant pumpkin, should look no further that the Top 15 Google Street View Sightings page however…
