While collecting data for its Street View service from 2008 to 2010, Google also collected personal data from nearby Wi-Fi networks, triggering a series of investigations into the Mountain View giant’s privacy practices.
In May 2010, Google admitted to collecting the data, claiming an engineer had created the software for data gathering without Google’s knowledge.
An inquiry by the UK information commissioner in 2010 has found that Google had violated UK data protection laws. No fine was given, but the commissioner requested an ICO audit.
Now, Bloomberg says the ICO is looking into the U.S. Federal Communications Commission’s report on Google’s data gathering, after which it will “consider what further action, if any, needs to be taken.”
Google claims it has not used the data in any products or services. “We have always been clear that the leaders of this project did not want or intend to use this payload data,” said Google spokesman Anthony House.
FCC’s recent findings don’t paint a very pretty picture for Google. In April 2012, Google was fined $25,000 by the FCC for impeding the investigation into this matter.
