--French watchdog fines Google for sucking up private data

Internet Business News
03-22-2011
--French watchdog fines Google for sucking up private data

INTERNET BUSINESS NEWS-(C)1995-2011 M2 COMMUNICATIONS

22 March 2011 - The National Commission for Computing and Liberties (CNIL), France's data protection regulator, has imposed its biggest penalty to date, fining Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) for unauthorised data collection, the Financial Times reported.
The EUR100,000 (USD142,300) fine is Google's punishment for breaching privacy laws while compiling information for Street View, its location service. While snapping pictures, Street View vehicles also siphoned off personal data from encryption-free Wi-Fi networks, storing e-mails and passwords, among other things.

Regulators elsewhere are also scrutinising the service although the CNIL is the first one to impose a financial penalty. The agency can levy fines of up to EUR150,000 but being a first-time offender has saved the US Internet giant from getting the maximum.

Google, still pondering whether to lodge an appeal, admitted the inadvertent data collection last year and immediately notified authorities. The company apologised profusely yesterday and reiterated its commitment to deleting the stored information.

((Comments on this story may be sent to info@m2.com))

(Copyright M2 Communications, 2011)