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The Borings renew Street View fight

'Our home a Google Slave'

Mr and Mrs Boring have renewed their Google Street View tilt.

Late last week, lawyers for the now-famous Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania couple asked a federal judge to reconsider his recent decision to dismiss the privacy suit they filed last April after a Google spycar snapped photos of their swimming pool and tossed them onto the interwebs.

"This case is about every little guy, once again being trampled upon by the big shoe of big business. With nowhere to turn but the American Courts, he is cast away to endure the pinpricks of trespass that bleed our American liberty to death," said the couple's motion for reconsideration.

"Whether the trespass is by a foreign king, or the royalty of big business, does not matter. The Borings, such as our American forefathers in millennia past, are entitled to proclaim, 'Google, Don't Tread On Me.'"

Last spring, Aaron and Christine Boring sued the Mountain View Chocolate Factory for invasion of privacy after a Google spycar drove down their private driveway, snapped 360-degree, pan-and-zoomable pics of their home and swimming pool, and tossed them onto Street View, Google's effort to photograph the entire planet at eye level.

Google and the Borings disagree on how private the private driveway is. The Borings have said the road is tagged with a sign that reads "Private Road, No Trespassing". But Google says there was no sign and that the road is shared with other neighbors.

In any event, the judge dismissed the suit - mainly because it did more to damage the couple's privacy than than Street View ever did. Rather than embrace the Streisand Effect, the judge said, the couple could have asked Google to remove their house and swimming pool from the net.

But the Borings have now urged the court to reverse its stance, accusing Google of enslavement. "This Court tells Google that it is okay to enter onto a person's private property without permission. I would not teach that rule to my child," the motion says. "This Court's ruling makes our private property a Google Slave; our property is no longer our own: it is forced to work for another, against its will, without compensation, for the profit of another. The Federal Court should free slavery, not create it." ®

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