ICO: Google Street View data collection not "meaningful"

 

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By Nicole Kobie

Posted on 29 Jul 2010 at 10:59

No "meaningful" data was collected from open Wi-Fi connections by Google's Street View cars, according to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO).

Earlier this year, Google admitted that it inadvertently collected data from Wi-Fi connections while its camera cars drove around cities snapping photos for the Street View mapping system.

The Information Commissioner is taking a responsible and proportionate approach to this case

Unlike its counterparts across Europe and the US, the ICO has refused to take action against Google, instead calling for the web giant to delete the data.

To double check its stance on the issue, the data watchdog visited Google's offices to view the data earlier this month. "While Google considered it unlikely that it had collected anything other than fragments of content, we wanted to make our own judgment as to the likelihood that significant personal data had been retained and, if so, the extent of any intrusion," the watchdog said in a statement.

"The information we saw does not include meaningful personal details that could be linked to an identifiable person," it said.

Google welcomed the news. "As we said when we announced our mistake, we did not want and have never used any payload data in our products or services," a spokesperson said.

Criticism

The ICO's view is contrary to the action taken by data watchdogs in Germany and the US, which have taken court action against Google, with a class action lawsuit filed yesterday in California.

"As we have only seen samples of the records collected in the UK we recognise that other data protection authorities conducting a detailed analysis of all the payload data collected in their jurisdictions may nevertheless find samples of information which can be linked to identifiable individuals," the ICO admitted.

While the ICO admitted that Google was "wrong to collect the information," the watchdog claimed its own call to delete the data was sufficient response, as there is no evidence the data has been - or could be - used against any person.

"We will be alerting Privacy International and others who have complained to us of our position. The Information Commissioner is taking a responsible and proportionate approach to this case," the statement said.

While the ICO isn't taking further action, the Met Police last week formally started its investigation into Google for allegedly illegally intercepting communications content.