The Arc de Triomphe, Paris, as seen in Google Street View
Google have received their first fine for illegally gathering and storing users’ personal data while using Google Street View vehicles. Google “mistakenly” gathered data from unsecured personal WiFi networks in more than thirty countries, including Ireland – something which was officially admitted to in October 2010.
France’s privacy watchdog have imposed a €100,000 fine on Google for their offences, which include the gathering of email addresses, web browsing history, and even banking details. Yann Padova, head of the French privacy watchdog (CNIL) criticised the lack of co-operation and transparency offered by Google during their investigations,
“They didn’t give us all the information we asked for, like the source code of all devices in the Google cars.
“‘They were not always very transparent.”
Google spokesman, Peter Fleisher, iterated previous apologies on Google’s behalf, stating that they were profoundly sorry for their mistakes,
“As we have said before, we are profoundly sorry for having mistakenly collected payload data from unencrypted wi-fi networks.
“As soon as we realised what had happened, we stopped collecting all wi-fi data from our Street View cars and immediately informed the authorities.”
Google have two weeks to appeal the decision.
Jeanna Liu’s love for nature is rooted in her childhood. As a young girl, Liu…
The arrival of generative artificial intelligence (genAI) into the mainstream at the end of 2022…
Data analytics and machine learning models deliver the most powerful results when they have access…
I’ve been on the road for almost a year now. Chasing freedom, adventure, and purpose.…
As technological use increases, so may the cost of innovation due to the global movement…
Have you ever asked yourself why some people are amazing at picking gifts, while others…