Privacy commissioner investigating Google WiFi data collection

Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart announced Tuesday an investigation into Google Inc.’s inadvertent collection of data from unsecured wireless networks as it photographed streets for its Street View service. “We are very concerned about the privacy implications stemming from Google’s confirmation that it had been capturing WiFi data in neighbourhoods across Canada and around the world over the past several years,” Stoddart said in a release. “We have a number of questions about how this collection could have happened and about the impact on people’s privacy. We’ve determined that an investigation is the best way to find the answers.” The investigation will determine whether Google contravened Canada’s private-sector privacy law, the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA), a release said. PIPEDA gives the commissioner the authority to investigate cases in which she believes there are reasonable grounds to suspect a contravention of the law. Google has not been charged with any breach of the law. The privacy commissioner pointed to a Google blog posting last month that said the company was collecting and storing information obtained through open wireless networks. “So how did this happen? Quite simply, it was a mistake,” Alan Eustace, senior vice-president of engineering and research, wrote in the blog posting. Google said that in 2006 an engineer on an experimental WiFi project wrote code that sampled all categories of publicly broadcast WiFi data. That code was used a year later when Google began collecting information to identify WiFi networks. “As soon as we became aware of this problem, we grounded our Street View cars and segregated the data on our network, which we then disconnected to make it inaccessible. We want to delete this data as soon as possible, and are currently reaching out to regulators in the relevant countries about how to quickly dispose of it,” Eustace wrote. “We are profoundly sorry for this error and are determined to learn all the lessons we can from our mistake.” The privacy commissioner said Google collected “payload data,” which includes communications and could contain personal information. The commissioner said she has asked Google to retain the data it collected in Canada. It may become part of the investigation.

Privacy commissioner investigating Google WiFi data collection

Brief | June 1, 2010

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Privacy commissioner investigating Google WiFi data collection

Brief | June 1, 2010

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