Google Fined $25,000 By FCC For Impeding Street View Investigation

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has ordered Google to pay $25,000 (£15,800) for impeding an investigation into ‘payload data’ collected by the Street View project.

In May 2010, the search giant revealed that it had been accidentally collecting and storing private information from Wi-Fi networks since 2007.

The ensuing backlash was felt most strongly in Europe, where France imposed a €100,000 fine on the search giant, and other countries, including Germany and the Netherlands, determined that data protection laws and regulations had been breached. Additionally, Canadian authorities said that Street View committed a “serious violation” of the country’s privacy laws but did not follow up with a prosecution

Failed investigation

The FCC claims that Google unnecessarily gathered emails, text messages, passwords, browsing history and “other highly sensitive personal information” when it accessed open wireless hotspots. Hoping to gain answers from the responsible individuals, the agency asked to obtain emails and engineer names related to the collection of Street View data, but to no avail.

“For many months, Google deliberately impeded and delayed the bureau’s investigation by failing to respond to requests for material information,” said Michele Ellison, the FCC’s enforcement bureau chief, in a written report. “Although a world leader in search capability, Google took the position that searching its employees’ email ‘would be a time consuming and burdensome task’.”

Google responded in a statement, saying: “As the FCC notes in their report, we provided all the materials the regulators felt they needed to conclude their investigation and we were not found to have violated any laws.

“We disagree with the FCC’s characterization of our cooperation in their investigation and will be filing a response.”

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