Infinite Path

Google boss Eric Schmidt has downplayed fears over privacy after it was revealed that data had been harvested from private wi-fi networks by its Street View cars.

The revelation was made last week in response to a request from the German authorities to audit the data that was gathered by the cars. The cars’ primary purpose is to take photographs of streets for use on Google Maps but it has now been revealed that for the last three years, Google has been collecting information sent by people over unencrypted wi-fi networks.

Google claims that this issue has arisen because in 2006 “an engineer working on an experimental wi-fi project wrote a piece of code that sampled all categories of publicly broadcast wi-fi data” but that it had been a “mistake” for the code to be contained in the cars. Google also said that its inclusion had not been authorised by the company.

Speaking at Google’s Zeitgeist conference in Watford, Mr Schmidt expressed his hope that nobody would be prosecuted over the incident, asking “Who was harmed? Name the person”. He also said that he did not want to blame the engineer specifically and that the incident had harmed Google more than any one person could.

Mr Schmidt also said that it was “highly unlikely” that the data collected would be “useful” and that there appears to “have been no use of that data”. He went on to say that nobody had been given or has done anything with the data.

Meanwhile, Google co-founder Larry Page expressed his view that the difference between “worry versus harm” was an important one when it comes to online privacy. Despite this, the US group Consumer Watchdog has demanded a Federal probe into the company and European countries are also considering taking action.

The UK will not take action on this matter, although a spokesman for the Information Commissioner’s Office did say that they were taking the matter “seriously” because Google had been involved in the “unnecessary and excessive collection and storage of personal data”.

In Germany, a request has been made to see the data by May 26th and that it should only be deleted after being subject to a review. Meanwhile, the Financial Times has reported that German prosecutors and the Czech authorities are also investigating the issue.

However, Mr Schmidt said that Google will not delete the data unless ordered to do so. His company is contacting authorities in the 30 countries which have Street View asking for guidance on how to proceed.