FCC Seeks fine from Google in wireless data privacy case
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| Image via CrunchBase |
FCC Seeks $25,000 fine from Google in wireless data privacy case
The Us Federal Communications Commission is seeking a $25,000 fine from Google Inc for not cooperating with an investigation of the company’s collection of personal data from wireless networks.
For months, Google “impeded” and “delayed” the probe, which concerned e-mail, text messages and other private material gathered in connection with the company’s Street View location service, according to an FCC filing dated April 13.
“We find that Google apparently and willfully and repeatedly violated. Commission orders to produce certain information and documents,” the FCC said in the filing.
Google, owner of the world’s most popular search engine, has come under rising scrutiny from regulators over how it handles data. Last year, the company agreed to settle claims with the Federal Trade Commission that it used deceptive tactics and violated its own privacy policies with the Buzz social network introduced in 2010. The FTC settlement requires Google to undergo independent privacy audits for 20 years.
For three years starting in May 2007, Google collected content from wireless networks that wasn’t needed for its location-based services, the FCC said. Google gathered so-called “payload” data including e-mail and text messages, passwords, Internet-usage history, and “other highly sensitive personal information,” the FCC said.
In May 2010, Google, which had revenue of $37.9 billion last year, said it would stop using Wi-Fi information for Street View, which displays pictures of streets on Google Maps. At the time, the company acknowledged that it had collected the information by mistake.
Mistique Cano, a spokeswoman for Mountain View, California-based Google, didn’t immediately have a comment.
A security personnel answers a call at the reception counter of the Google office in Hyderabad.
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