Google Street View used to convict man of pet negligence

If you thought Google Street View was only good enough for finding out what a place looks like from the comfort of your own home, think again. It looks like Google’s panoramic imaging service can also be used to convict people of their crimes.

A biker was cycling through the neighborhood when he was chased by the man’s dog and fell and hit his forehead. He decided to bring the case to court and sued the owner of the dog, a man named Lee. However, Lee denied owning the dog and causing injury through negligence. The biker then resorted to using a Google Street View image of the neighborhood, which showed the dog in Lee’s yard, making Lee the owner of the dog.

The judge accepted the Street View image as evidence and fined Lee 59,000 Taiwan dollars ($2,000). I wonder if the fine would have been different if he admitted to owning the dog in the first place…a pretty interesting way to make use of Google Street View don’t you think?

George Wong
Categories: Web
Tags: Google, street view