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Google Pays $7M fine to Settle Wi-Fi Privacy Case
Posted: Mar 12, 2013 3:21 PM by Associated Press
Updated: Mar 12, 2013 3:22 PM
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Google will pay a $7 million fine to settle a multistate investigation into the Internet search leader's interception of emails, passwords and other sensitive information sent several years ago over unprotected wireless networks throughout the world.
The agreement announced Tuesday covers 38 states and the District of Columbia.
It closes an inquiry opened in 2010 shortly after Google revealed that company cars taking street-level photos for its online mapping service also had been grabbing personal data transmitted over Wi-Fi networks that had been set up in homes and businesses without requiring a password to gain access.
It's the largest penalty that Google Inc. has paid so far in the U.S. for the snooping. News of the penalty leaked out last week.
Google isn't acknowledging any wrongdoing in the settlement.
(Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
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Information from the Texas Attorney General's Office
AUSTIN - Texas, 37 other states and the District of Columbia today resolved their lengthy investigation into Google Inc.'s collection of personal information - including e-mail and search histories -- from unsecured wireless routers at private residences and businesses. Although Google initially denied that its Street View vehicles were retrieving this private information, the Mountain View, Calif.-based conglomerate subsequently acknowledged that it had "mistakenly" engaged in this practice. Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott provided this statement about the agreement negotiated by the states:
"For two years, Google violated Texans' privacy rights and secretly collected personal information from their wireless routers. Today's agreement requires Google to destroy any personal data that was improperly collected and imposes important new privacy protections that govern the Street View program going forward."
Read the court-filed agreement with Google Inc - https://www.oag.state.tx.us/newspubs/releases/2013/030613_google_vol_comp.pdf
Google's data collection effort was tied to its Street View project, which sought to enhance its Google Maps platform by deploying a fleet of vehicles nationwide to photograph residences, businesses and other improvements in municipal neighborhoods. Unbeknownst to the residents and business owners whose properties were photographed, Google's Street View vehicles were outfitted with specialized data collection devices that also scanned and stored payload data from wireless networks that were not password protected.
Initially, Google maintained that no emails, Web search histories or other personal information was being collected by Street View vehicles - and that the collected information was limited to data that merely identified the existence and location of a wireless network.
The State's investigation subsequently revealed that despite assertions to the contrary, Google collected private information that was transmitted over unencrypted WiFi networks for two years. Although information transmitted on these wireless networks was collected from 2010 to 2012, Google represented that it had not intended to collect and store network users' private payload data.
Under today's agreement, Google must pay $7 million and comply with following requirements:
• Destroy the "payload data" it collected;
• Notify network users and obtain their consent before using its Street View vehicles to collect any additional "payload data";
• Implement an employee training program that highlights network users' privacy and maintain the training program for the next 10 years; and
• Develop a public service campaign to educate network users about how to better secure their personal information while they are using wireless networks.
Attorney General Abbott urged Texans to protect their privacy by securing their home computer systems and activating encryption features to make sure that transmitted information is scrambled.
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