Attorney Generals from 30 States Investigating If Google Violated Any Rules re: WiFi Data
The Google legal department continues to get busier and busier regarding Google's acquisition of wifi data when acquiring imagery for Google Street View.
Attorneys general from about 30 states are investigating whether Google violated any laws when vehicles used by the company to snap pictures for the Street View service also collected snippets of personal information sent over unsecured wireless networks. On Thursday, attorneys general from about 30 states participated in a conference call do discuss whether to join forces.
The call was spearheaded by Richard Blumenthal, Connecticut’s Attorney General, who was among the first to open an investigation into the data gathering by Google.
“Violating legitimate expectations of privacy on the part of both homeowners and business people is an extraordinarily serious issue, and we want all the facts as quickly as possible,” Mr. Blumenthal said in a telephone interview. Mr. Blumenthal said the conference call with his counterparts “was the first step in an effort to cooperate in a possible joint investigation and action. At this point, we are asking questions and frankly some of the answers we received so far have raised additional questions that we have put to the company.”
Google’s behavior also raises important concerns. Whether intentional or not, collecting information sent over WiFi networks clearly infringes on consumer privacy. Here, there are some immediate remedies. The Google incident is a reminder that “open” WiFi networks – those that are not encrypted – are all too vulnerable to cyber snooping.
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