European regulators to get Google Wi-Fi data [CNET News]
After Google admitted that its Street View fleet captured network transmissions from open wi-fi networks in several countries around the world, privacy regulators in Europe launched an investigation into the search engine's actions. As part of that action, regulators in France, Germany, Italy and Spain demanded that Google hand over the ill-gotten data, which is reportedly in excess of 600 GB. This week, Google announced it will accede to these demands and it will release a third-party audit of the Street View data capture activities.
When first confronted by German privacy officials about the issue, Google maintained that the data collection only included the MAC addresses of open wi-fi routers, not the actual wireless network transmissions. Later, Google revealed that the data it had collected was much more invasive.
While the company will comply with European regulators' requests, it will not be turning data collected in the U.S. over to federal authorities in this country. According to Google, it is conducting an internal investigation and the engineer that wrote the code that collected wireless data is facing "a disciplinary procedure."
Comments