Google – Court Ruling (Germany, 2020)

Google (the controller), offers the services Google Maps and Google Earth to its users. Both services enable users to see the satellite images of the data subject's property which was photographed by Google. When searching by entering the address of the property, the red location pin is not directly on the property but on the street. However, when entering the GPS coordinates, the red location pin is directly on the property. The aerial photograph shows the location and size of the residential building, as well as various facets of the property (green areas, roof area, terrace, garden). The data subject had requested Google to pixelate or make unrecognizable his property in both services. The data subject claimed that the satellite images were his personal data. Furthermore, he argued that the controller could not rely on the fact that they were using data that could be obtained from commercial and public sources, as he had not authorised either Google Maps or third parties to take or publish the photographs of his property. The Regional Court of Itzhoe (LG Itzehoe) rejected the data subject's claim. It held that the interest of the controller in continuing to use the image outweighs the interest of the data subject in making the property unrecognisable. First, the court recognized the need of the general public to look at the world from the above through the controller's services. The individual reasons for which the users do this are irrelevant in the present case, since mere access to any kind of information source is already protected. If many data subjects' properties were made unrecognizable, the information content of the images would decrease significantly. Second, the court established that the interest of the controller outweighs the interest of the data subject in this case due to the lack of a concrete connection between the image of the residential property including the address entry and the data subject as a person. It is undisputed that the