In a statement on Friday, Google said: "We work hard to get privacy right at Google. It concluded that the collection of the data in 2010 was due to "procedural failings and a serious lack of management oversight", but agreed with Google's assertion that the company did not order the actions at a corporate level. "The detriment caused to individuals by this breach fails to meet the level required to issue a monetary penalty," it said. However, unlike authorities in the US, the ICO said it would not be issuing a fine. "Failure to abide by the notice will be considered as contempt of court, which is a criminal offence." To date, various regulators around the world have for the most part agreed with this assertion, concluding that the "mistakenly" gathered data was a result of sloppy management at a low level, rather than misguided direction from the top. However, it later transpired that at least one senior manager at the company was aware the collection was taking place. Google has said it did not plan to collect this data, and that the engineer was acting independently. The data included personal emails and other sensitive information. Using specially-adapted cars, it created panoramic images of more than five million miles of the world's roads.īut it was during that process, in 2010, when one unnamed Google engineer wrote a piece of software that would pull data from the unsecured wi-fi networks the car encountered as it drove through towns and cities. Google Street View, which launched in 2007, has been one of the search company's most ambitious projects to date. "Today's enforcement notice strengthens the action already taken by our office, placing a legal requirement on Google to delete the remaining payload data identified last year within the next 35 days and immediately inform the ICO if any further discs are found," said Stephen Eckersley, the office's head of enforcement.Ĭontinue reading the main story What did Google do wrong?
The ICO has told the search giant it must inform it if any further discs of information are discovered. Google had previously pledged to destroy all data it had collected, but admitted last year that it had "accidentally" retained the additional discs. Its investigation into Google reopened last year after further revelations about the data taken from wi-fi networks.ĭuring that inquiry, additional discs containing private data were found. Google has been given 35 days to delete any remaining data it "mistakenly collected" while taking pictures for its Street View service, or face criminal proceedings.īut the UK Information Commissioner's Office did not impose a fine. Continue reading the main story Related Stories
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