If you thought Google was out of the gutter with regard to recent revelation that the company was collecting private WiFi data using Google Street View vehicles, you’re dead wrong. Several countries have launched their own internal investigations with reference to the matter, and for the most part, they aren’t happy.
Case in point: Australia. The country has ruled that Google has indeed broke their privacy laws, according to the country’s own privacy commissioner Karen Curtis.
“Collecting personal information in these circumstances is a very serious matter. Australians should reasonably expect that private communications remain private,” said Curtis in a statement to the Associated Press.
Australia’s privacy act is preventing Curtis from doling out a punishment to Google, though the California-based company is hell-bent on making ends meets and getting the Australian government and general population to regain their trust.
“We want to reiterate to Australians that this was a mistake for which we are sincerely sorry,” said Google’s Alan Eustace in a statement on the Google Australia blog. “Maintaining people’s trust is crucial to everything we do and we have to earn that trust every single day. We are acutely aware that we failed badly here.”
Australia’s federal police has launched their own criminal investigation with regard to Google’s WiFi breaches, which will decide as to whether or not Google violated the country’s Telecommunications Interceptions Act.
Google has declined to comment on the matter outside of their apologetic blog posts.
via Erictric
