Germany's Consumer Affairs Minister Ilse Aigner has sharply
criticized Google for inadvertently collecting personal data.
"According to the information available to us so far, Google has for
years penetrated private networks, apparently illegally," Aigner said in
a statement on Saturday.
The "alarming incident" showed that Google still lacks understanding
for the need for privacy, according to the statement.
Privacy breach
Google's fleet of Street View cars, photographing streets for its
online map program, has been collecting more data than previously
thought. After reviewing a system in the cars that recorded names and
addresses of wireless networks detected along the routes, Google
revealed that a programming error had led to small amounts of personal
data to be collected from unsecured Wi-Fi networks.
"It's now clear that we have been mistakenly collecting samples of
payload data from open Wi-Fi networks," Google's head of engineering
Alan Eustace said in a blog posting.
The blog post did not specify what kinds of personal data had been
collected but indicated it could be things such as email and web
browsing history. However, since the data had been collected by moving
vehicles, only fragments of information were recorded. Google regretted
its mistake and would look for a way to destroy the personal data.
"Maintaining people's trust is crucial to everything we do, and in
this case we fell short," said Eustace in the blog post.
Google reviewed its data collection methods in response to an inquiry
from the Data Protection Authority in Hamburg.
The Google Street View service allows users to "walk" along panoramic
street views in many countries, using images recorded by
specially-outfitted cars. The fleet of cars around the world has been
halted for the time being as Google attempts to fix the glitch.
The Street View project is controversial in Germany due to privacy
concerns.
mz/ng/AP/dpa/AFP
Editor: Martin Kuebler
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,5576837,00.html
