France’s Data Privacy Regulator Fines Google Over Street View

This blog post was updated on October 11, 2018.

France’s data privacy regulator has fined Google a record 100,000 euros ($142,000) over private information that was collected during the company’s Street View panoramic project.

 

Google launched the Street View service in 2007 to provide interactive panoramas of major cities across the globe.

 

Google admitted in 2010 that along with the photos, their specially quipped cars had also inadvertently picked up Wi-Fi data including passwords and e-mails sent over unencrypted internet connections.

 

France’s privacy regulator said the fines were necessary to combat the “unfair collection” of private information that could have been used for financial gain.

 

Google responded to the fines by once again denying economic benefit from the information. The search engine giant also issued an apology for the mistake.

 

Source: AP