Hat tip to Cearta.ie for this extraordinary story from the Irish Times:

Landladies ordered to pay students €115,000 in damages
Simon Carswell 14 November 2007

Two Dublin landladies have been ordered to pay damages totalling more than €115,000 to 10 students who were tenants in their house after the Circuit Court found they had kept the students under secret electronic surveillance. …

The students became concerned in late 2004 that their conversations and activities were being monitored when the McKennas referred to details the students had discussed in private in the house. When they raised the issue with the McKennas, the students were evicted. … Judge Gerard Griffin yesterday found that the evidence in the case left him “in no doubt whatsoever that the defendants had kept these plaintiffs under electronic surveillance”. … He found the students’ rights to privacy had been infringed and he awarded them damages varying from €7,500 to €12,500 each.

Which raises the question of what sort of pervert would actually want to listen to endless student angst-conversations. Or watch video that would be about as exciting as the 4 am live feed of Big Brother? Surely the punishment is found in the offence itself?