Google has been told it must pay over $2,000 in damages to a Canadian woman after she was snapped by the Street View cameras with part of her breast exposed.

Maria Pia Grillo was pictured by the Google Street View cameras as she sat outside her house in Montreal, Canada.

The image showed her sitting on her front step leaning forward as she checked her cell phone, exposing part of her cleavage.

Ms Grillo was horrified when she discovered the picture after looking up her house using Google Maps Street View.

Although her face was blurred out in the image, her car's registration plate was not, meaning she could still be identified.

In her complaint to Google, Ms Grillo said she was "appalled that a corporation of your magnitude is so terribly unaware of local privacy laws" and it had put her, her house, vehicle and family members living with her "at the mercy of potential predators".

She claimed she suffered a "significant loss of personal modesty and dignity" and was subjected to mockery at work as a result of the image.

When she decided to begin legal proceedings against Google, the internet giant agreed to blur out more of the image to conceal her identity but refused to meet her demand of $45,000 for emotional damage on the grounds that she was in a public place.

The judge did not agree that she should be rewarded the full $45,000 but did order Google to pay $2,250 plus interest and court costs, saying that people's privacy rights are not forfeited when they are in public.