France fines Google $141,300 for collecting private data

[News_Editor]

France fines Google $141,300 for collecting private data

2011-03-22 07:58:23 GMT+7 (ICT)

PARIS (BNO NEWS) -- France's National Commission for Information Freedom (CNIL) on Monday fined Google Inc. for last year's incident in which Google's Street View car collected private data from wireless networks around the world.

CNIL fined Google 100,000 euros ($141,300) for the inadvertent collection of data that took place last year and subsequently caused several law suits to be filed, as well as a number of criminal investigations.

The incident was first discovered in May 2010, when Google disclosed that its Street View car had been collecting private data, including emails, passwords, and Internet surfing records, around the world.

Several countries, including the U.S., the U.K., Switzerland, Singapore and France began looking into the situation, and Austria and Czech Republic went on to ban Google's Street View car from operating in the countries. In addition, Google ceased its Street View operations in Australia as of October 2010.

Google Maps and Google Earth users are allowed to access the Street View feature, showing actual images of streets of several cities around the world. The vehicles used to capture the images carry nine directional cameras for 360-degree views and drive around different cities to gather the images.

Controversy regarding privacy issues began when images of people leaving strip clubs, protesters, sunbathers, and people carrying out private activities on their own property could be seen in Street View after being captured in an image. Privacy concerns later escalated following the collection of private data.

Currently, Google is still facing several class action lawsuits related to the incidents.

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