Canadian regulators said on Tuesday they will contact officials in nine other nations to discuss Google's collection of citizens' data transmitted over open Wi-Fi systems.
"We are shocked and deeply concerned about this," says Anne-Marie Hayden, spokesperson for Canadian Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddard. "We're in touch with our international counterparts to examine next steps that could include enforcement action."
At issue is Google's recent disclosure that it has been using a practice known as "war driving" to gather data moving across unprotected Wi-Fi networks in homes and businesses across North America, Europe, Australia and Asia. Since 2007, the company has dispatched photographers in vehicles to take snapshots of street scenes in major cities for use in Google maps. But cars were also equipped to capture Wi-Fi signals within range of the vehicle.
After German officials inquired about this practice, Google on April 27 said it was collecting only basic Wi-Fi information. But on Friday Google admitted that it also has been erroneously collecting personal data transmitted by Wi-Fi networks. It grounded the cars and apologized.
"Maintaining people's trust is crucial to everything we do, and in this case we fell short," Alan Eustace, senior vice-president of engineering and research, says in a blog post.
Google already has heeded a request by Ireland to destroy any personal data of Irish citizens collected.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission is reviewing a letter from advocacy group Consumer Watchdog calling for a federal probe of Google's data harvesting practices. "They said they weren't doing this, then a month later they claimed they were doing it, but it was by mistake," says John Simpson, spokesman for the group.And forever has no end
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