Posted on June 13th, 2010Corporate giant, Google lands into trouble with its maiden data collection endeavor across the world “Street View mapping”. Legal problems surrounding Street View mapping has intensified the past few days with the company facing their latest threat in the form of a police investigation in Australia. The number of countries expressing their concern on this Google project is mounting day by day.
The probe comes amid accusations that Google breached certain privacy laws and announced a day after, to hand over all the data it has collected through wireless networks to Spanish, German and French authorities. Canada also recently launched a probe onto Google amid all the privacy concerns relating to Street View service. The service uses camera-equipped fleets of cars and vehicles to take 360-degree panoramic pictures for creating an online atlas.
Last month, Google acknowledged that it had mistakenly collected tiny packets of data over unsecured and public Wi-Fi networks in more than 30 countries while taking pictures of their neighborhoods. Google said that, it discovered the problem after German regulators observed a glitch on the service and launched an inquiry.
The information commissioner of U.K ruled the possibility last year that Google’s Street View technology does carry a small risk of privacy invasion. However, even-though members of the public sought direct action in at least one location, preventing the company from taking photographs of their streets, the authorities gave a green signal to the ongoing project and deemed, it should not be stopped.
The latest Australian probe comes as more consumers and regulator watchdogs around the world are complaining that Google does not value people’s privacy seriously enough. However, Google maintains that its users’ privacy is one of the highest priorities that the company strives to maintain. Communications Minister of Australia, Stephen Conroy has come to the forefront accusing Google of being responsible for the “greatest single breach in privacy history”.
Google apologized following this incident, saying it accidentally collected these fragments of data. The Australian government and the company are arguing over the mandatory Internet filter proposed by Mr. Conroy’s, which Google says amounts directly to censorship.