[LINK] US continuing to pressure Google

[Jan Whitaker]

US state attorneys press Google in Street View probe

July 23, 2010 - 8:40AM

US state attorneys have pressed Google to name workers who wrote the 
"snooping" code that captured personal data from wireless networks 
while Street View cars mapped streets.

"Google's responses continue to generate more questions than they 
answer," said Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, part 
of a 38-state coalition investigating whether the search giant broke US law.

Blumenthal in June launched the probe of "Google's deeply disturbing 
invasion of personal privacy", which has drawn ire and scrutiny in an 
array of countries.

He said he wants Google to tell whether testing of Street View 
software prior to its use revealed it captured data from wireless 
networks and to finger the engineers that wrote the code.

He also wanted to know specific spots where data was collected and 
what Google did with information it gathered.

"We are asking Google to identify specific individuals responsible 
for the snooping code and how Google was unaware that this code 
allowed the Street View cars to collect data broadcast over Wi-Fi 
networks," Blumenthal said.

"We will take all appropriate steps, including potential legal action 
if warranted, to obtain complete, comprehensive answers."

The Mountain View, California-based search and advertising titan is 
facing lawsuits and investigations in a number of countries in 
connection with private wireless data collected by Street View cars. 
The Australian Privacy Commissioner, Karen Curtis, 
<http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/google-wifi-snooping-broke-the-law-privacy-watchdog-20100709-103eh.html>found 
the company breached the Privacy Act.

Google executives including co-founder Sergey Brin said the 
collection of wireless data was unintentional and a blunder.

Street View cars "will no longer collect any Wi-Fi information at 
all, but will continue to collect photos and 3D imagery as they did 
before," Google vice president of engineering Brian McClendon said 
earlier this month in a blog.

He said Wi-Fi data collection equipment has been removed from its cars.

Google has apologised repeatedly for what it maintains was a "mistake."

Street View, which was launched in 2006, lets users view panoramic 
street scenes on Google Maps and take a virtual "walk" through cities 
such as New York, Paris or Hong Kong.

AFP and smh.com.au

This story was found at: 
http://www.theage.com.au/technology/technology-news/us-state-attorneys-press-google-in-street-view-probe-20100723-10nfb.html 




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