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Filed under: Internet, News, Google

Google Maps diminishing value of homes, causing "mental suffering"?

google maps street view of oakridge lane
A couple is accusing Google of diminishing the value of their property and causing them "mental" suffering" for including their recluse home in the Google Maps Street View project. The road leading up to their house is apparently labeled "private", something the Street View operator must've missed. We checked the Street View footage up to the house and didn't notice any clear "private" signs, but don't take our scientific analysis as fact.

They didn't like that Google invaded their "privacy". Some of the court papers are available online, and if you check them out, you'll notice mainly boring gibberish but also the address of the home. Suing Google has already done more damage to their "privacy" than the pictures on their own.

Aaron and Christine Boring want at least $25,000 and the 360 degree pictures destroyed, but something tells us the case doesn't stand a chance against Google's well paid, state-of-the-art, corporate lawyers, which come from the best lawyer factories in the nation.

Filed under: Business, Video, Google

The Google entertainment payoff

google youtube payoffsGoogle is reportedly telling major entertainment companies that they have allocated over $100 million as special licensing deals if the companies promise they won't sue them for the next three years. Time Warner, News Corp., NBC and Universal, would agree not to sue Google over any YouTube copyright infringements and the payments in question would be some kind of holdover until Google can figure out how to make serious money through revenue sharing and advertising. If Google can get these major companies to sign the deal, not only will it be the premier location for video and change viewing patterns, but this could potentially open the eyes of entertainment companies to try out more deals that could potentially benefit their audience. There have been no lawsuits from major entertainment companies yet, so it seems as though they could be trying to negotiate some deals.

Filed under: Video, Web services, Social Software

Universal Music sues Grouper and Bolt.com

Universal Music is the first, but undoubtedly not the last, record company to go after video-sharing sites whose users share their music videos without permission. Yesterday Universal sued Grouper and Bolt.com and is seeking up to $150,000 for each instance of infringement plus court costs. Grouper was acquired by Sony Pictures Entertainment back in August and Bolt.com, whose market share has been rising fast, is privately held. Wwhy Universal didn't go after slightly bigger fish like Metacafe and Dailymotion isn't apparent. YouTube and its new parent Google were spared, of course, because of YouTube's recent deal with Universal and other record labels. This is undoubtedly just the first in many suits by record companies against video-sharing sites, whose uses not only post copyrighted music vidoes but also use copyrighted songs liberally in their own videos.

Featured Time Waster

The World's Hardest Game 2.0 - Time Waster

So, just how good at time waster games are you? Think you've got the stuff? Well, The World's Hardest Game 2.0 doesn't think you do. Yes, amazingly, it's possible to have a sequel to a game called "The World's Hardest Game". It doesn't seem logically possible, since if the first one was actually the world's hardest, how could another one come along and share the moniker? It made me doubt the name in the first place. That is, until I tried the game. The mechanics of the game are very simple. You are a small red square, ...

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