privacy european-union recording google
Is it legal for google street view images to see in my house (EU)?
<p>My aunt lives somewhere on the territory of European Union and I navigated to her house in street view mode on Google Maps. I noticed that by navigating those images you can see into her house!</p>
<p>You can clearly see that she has a flower pot in the ground floor window. I mean, this doesn't create any problem, but what if she had a bathroom on that window and you could see her bathing?
<a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/hAnDR.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/hAnDR.jpg" alt="enter image description here" /></a></p>

<p><a href="/questions/tagged/germany" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged &#39;germany&#39;" aria-label="show questions tagged &#39;germany&#39;" rel="tag" aria-labelledby="germany-container">germany</a></p>
<p>In Germany, taking pictures - and publishing them - is legal, if they're taken from public areas, from the general perspective of a passer-by, and if the picture doesn't make individual persons recognizable.</p>
<p>(There are some restrictions about making persons recognizable; if you take a picture of a monument or other building that would typically be photographed by tourists, and if the topic of the picture is clearly the monument, not a random bystander, then it's OK to publish even if the bystander's face is visible. But that doesn't work for individual's houses).</p>
<p>Still, Street View got into trouble because their cameras are mounted on roofs of a car, in a height of 2.5-3 meters, so they violated the &quot;perspective of a passer-by&quot; rule. To return to the example of &quot;bathroom&quot;, the camera could well be able to see you nude when a passer-by would only be able to see a small portion of the ceiling next to the window.</p>
<p>Because of this, and because many Germans were uneasy with seeing their houses on the internet, as a condition to permit Street View at all, the German government insisted on allowing people to request their house to be removed; in 2010, approximately 250000 people made use of that (source: <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-11595495" rel="noreferrer">https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-11595495</a>).</p>
<p>Because of the high resistance against Street View in Germany, Google published what they had in 2011, but stopped collecting more images. This is explained in <a href="https://bigthink.com/strange-maps/germany-street-view/" rel="noreferrer">https://bigthink.com/strange-maps/germany-street-view/</a>, which also explains some of the reasons why Germans are so heavily biased for privacy.</p>

<h2>Yes</h2>
<p><a href="/questions/tagged/australia" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged &#39;australia&#39;" aria-label="show questions tagged &#39;australia&#39;" rel="tag" aria-labelledby="australia-container">australia</a></p>
<p>In <a href="http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/nsw/supreme_ct/2001/204.html" rel="noreferrer">R v Sotheren (2001) NSWSC 204</a> Justice Dowd said <strong>“A person, in our society, does not have a right not to be photographed.”</strong></p>
<p>The tort of breach of privacy requires a reasonable expectation of privacy. If it can be seen from the street, it isn’t private.</p>

<p>Dale M's answer is correct, but there's more:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>what if she had a bathroom on that window and you could see her bathing?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>That could well lead to her being charged with public nudity / indecent exposure (depending on where exactly in Europe it is).</p>
<p>The fact that she would be exposing herself inside her house wouldn't matter: the fact that the public could easily see her from the street would. She would be aware of the visibility, and <em>not</em> taking steps to prevent it (e.g. privacy curtains) could well throw her into legal trouble.</p>
