Google's Privacy Woes in the UK Aren't Over

 By 
Stan Schroeder
 on 
Google's Privacy Woes in the UK Aren't Over

Google could face further action by Britain's Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), pending a review of FCC's findings on Google's Street View data collection, Bloomberg reports.

While collecting data for its Street View service from 2008 to 2010, Google also collected personal data from nearby Wi-Fi networks, triggering a series of investigations into the Mountain View giant's privacy practices.

In May 2010, Google admitted to collecting the data, claiming an engineer had created the software for data gathering without Google's knowledge.

An inquiry by the UK information commissioner in 2010 has found that Google had violated UK data protection laws. No fine was given, but the commissioner requested an ICO audit.

Now, Bloomberg says the ICO is looking into the U.S. Federal Communications Commission’s report on Google's data gathering, after which it will "consider what further action, if any, needs to be taken.”

Google claims it has not used the data in any products or services. “We have always been clear that the leaders of this project did not want or intend to use this payload data,” said Google spokesman Anthony House.

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