Google has been given 35 days to delete any remaining data it “mistakenly collected” while taking pictures for its Street View service, or face criminal proceedings. The UK investigation into Google reopened last year after further revelations about the data taken from wi-fi networks. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-23002166
Google Street View, which launched in 2007, has been one of the search company’s most ambitious projects to date.
Using specially-adapted cars, it created panoramic images of more than five million miles of the world’s roads.
But it was during that process, in 2010, when one unnamed Google engineer wrote a piece of software that would pull data from the unsecured wi-fi networks the car encountered as it drove through towns and cities.
The data included personal emails and other sensitive information.
Google has said it did not plan to collect this data, and that the engineer was acting independently. However, it later transpired that at least one senior manager at the company was aware the collection was taking place.