SHIMATA

The Jananese are supposedly a non-litigious people, but a Japanese woman is suing Google because her drying underwear showed up on Google's Street View of her apartment. I love Google Maps. They make me feel like an alien approaching earth in a UFO. You click in on Tokyo say, then switch over to Satellite View. Click in closer till you can see the buildings and streets, then grab the liitle yellow man in the left corner and drag and drop him anywhere. Presto, you're on earth. It's a static earth, but you can turn 360 degrees and move around town on the white lines. You get a feel for what a place really looks like, but it soon grows tiresome because every move, even a few feet up the street, is at warp speed. Then it takes several seconds for the new view to come into focus. As for the Japanese woman, I wondered why she didn't mind her neighbors seeing her underwear, but got upset when Google put them on its site. I suppose she became a celebrity in her neighborhood. Instead of losing face she found an unwanted one. In court she admitted to mental health issues being exacerbated. She only wants $7,000. Perhaps to pay for professional help.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/22/google-street-view-sighting_n_786774.html#s188191&title=undefined