Google Street View broke privacy law

[DaBees-Knees]

http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/national/google-street-view-broke-privacy-law/story-e6frea8c-1225890011209

GOOGLE broke Australia's privacy law when it collected information from wireless networks, the country's privacy commissioner has ruled.

Several other countries are investigating Google over the  Internet giant's "Street View" mapping service and data collection scheme, and there are growing concerns from regulators and consumer watchdogs worldwide that Google isn't serious about people's privacy - a charge the company denies

In May, Google acknowledged it had mistakenly collected fragments of data over public Wi-Fi networks in more than 30 countries while it was taking pictures of neighborhoods for the Street View feature. Google said it discovered the problem after German regulators launched an inquiry.

At the time, Australia's Communications Minister Stephen Conroy dubbed it the "single greatest breach in the history of privacy."

"We want to reiterate to Australians that this was a mistake for which we are sincerely sorry," wrote Alan Eustace, Google's top engineering executive. "Maintaining people's trust is crucial to everything we do and we have to earn that trust every single day. We are acutely aware that we failed badly here."

It's strange that a multi-million dollar company should be so innocent as regards its activities and their implications.   

[Forested665]

well im definately interested to see what comes of this in court if at all. Im even more intrigued in knowing how they unintentionally captured data from wifi spots.

In all honesty idk about other places but a few cases here ruled that if it was unprotected and unencrypted its the owners fault since they all have protection capability.