Google faces criminal probe for possible privacy violation in Germany, Spain

May 20th, 2010 - 2:08 am ICT by BNO News  

MADRID (BNO NEWS) — Google Inc. is facing a criminal probe by German and Spanish prosecutors on data Google said was erroneously gathered for its Street View mapping service, media reports said Wednesday.

Prosecutors in Hamburg, Germany and government officials in Madrid, Spain are investigating how cars Google employed to drive around taking pictures for Street View ended up with private data from unprotected Wi-Fi networks.

Madrid has urged Google to block the data associated with WI-FI networks that are currently stored in the company and that have been obtained in Spanish territory for equipment installed in StreetView vehicles, the Publico newspaper reported.

Spanish officials also required Google to report the type of data collected and the number of Spanish cities that have been traced by StreetView vehicles.

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