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Google fined $9 million over hotspot data grab

 
Published on Mar 13, 2013
6:18 AM
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A Google Street View vehicle as it collects imagery while driving down Interstate I-66 near Centreville, Virginia. The long-running Google Street View privacy case was settled on March 12, 2013 as the company reached an agreement with 37 states and the District of Columbia to stop unauthorised data collection and train its employees on privacy issues. Google will also pay a US$7 million fine to the states involved. The company will also launch a nationwide consumer education campaign, according to the settlement. The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The settlement concerns Google's collection of data from unsecured wireless networks nationwide between 2008 and 2010 as part of its Street View mapping service. Google improperly collected and stored information from consumers including email and text messages, passwords and web histories. Google has said the collection was done by a "rogue engineer." -- FILE PHOTO: AFP

NEW YORK (AFP) - Google agreed to pay a US$7 million (S$8.7 million) fine in the United States on Tuesday for stealthily collecting data from private Wi-Fi hotspots in a mapping service slip that irked an array of countries.

In a legal settlement with attorneys general in 38 states, the Internet giant also agreed to ramp up employee training about data privacy and back a nationwide campaign to teach people about securing wireless networks.

Word that vehicles snapping panoramic photos in neighborhoods for Street View images in Google's online maps were grabbing data from unsecured hotspots triggered investigations in at least a dozen countries, according to the Electronic Privacy Information Center (Epic).

At least nine countries have found Google violated local laws, said Epic. In the settlement announced on Tuesday, Google again promised that email, passwords, web histories and other data captured by Street View vehicles in the United States between 2008 and 2010 will be destroyed.

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