US-based consumer advocacy organisation Consumer Watchdog has called on the Federal Trade Commission to launch an immediate probe of Google’s prying on private WiFi networks. In a blog post on its Website, Google recently admitted that it had, since 2006, systematically collected private data while compiling its Street View photo archive. The information was sent over unencrypted residential wireless networks as Google's Street View cars with mounted recording equipment passed by.
The flagrant intrusion into consumers’ privacy came to light as a result of tough questions from European regulators. While Google now acknowledged gathering ‘payload data’ from WiFi networks, the company, less than a month ago, had denied accumulating the information. Google engineers attributed the discrepancy to a ‘mistake.’
Consumer Watchdog has called on the FTC to document what data Google has been gathering, for how long and what the company does with it. The FTC has the authority and public trust necessary to get to the bottom of Google’s data collection practices. The probe should reveal exactly how consumers’ privacy has been compromised and what remedies are required, said Consumer Watchdog.
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