14 DAY TRIAL // Google got off with a slap on the wrist in Australia, following the personal Wi-Fi data collection debacle. The privacy commissioner in the country has concluded her investigation and found that the company had indeed broken privacy laws in Australia when it collected the data from open wireless networks. However, there were no sanctions imposed on Google. All the company has to do is to issue a public apology, which it did, and collaborate more with the commissioner.
"On the information available I am satisfied that any collection of personal information would have breached the Australian Privacy Act. Collecting personal information in these circumstances is a very serious matter. Australians should reasonably expect that private communications remain private,” Australian Privacy Commissioner Karen Curtis said in a statement.
“We want to reiterate to Australians that this was a mistake for which we are sincerely sorry. Maintaining people’s trust is crucial to everything we do and we have to earn that trust every single day. We are acutely aware that we failed badly here,” Alan Eustace, Senior VP, Engineering and Research at Google, wrote in the blog post apology.
Google has now promised to undertake a Privacy Impact Assessment every time it wants to start collecting new types of data with Street View cars. The company also said it will consult regularly with the commissioner’s office about new products and privacy practices in the country.
That does sound like a rather light punishment, but it is actually the maximum extent to which the agency can go. Under Australian law, the commissioner is unable to impose any fines if the investigation was initiated by her office, which was the case now. However, Curtis indicated that, if it were possible, she would have handed out greater sanctions.
Google is still under investigation by the Australian Police, and if this resolution is any indication, there may be trouble for the company here. All of this is to be expected though, the company is not very well seen by the government there as it has complained publicly about plans to instate a country-wide Internet censorship program.
Previous coverage of the Google Wi-Fi Data Collection blunder:
- German Officials ‘Horrified’ by Google Street View WiFi Snooping
- Google Details Its Wi-Fi Data-Collection Policies
- Google Admits to Collecting Personal Wi-Fi Data
- Google’s Personal Wi-Fi Data Debacle Unravels
- Google Stops Deleting Personal Wi-Fi Data It Collected
- Google Refuses to Hand Over Wi-Fi Data to Regulators
- Media Scaremongering in the Google Wi-Fi Blunder
- Google to Hand Over Wi-Fi Data to European Regulators
- Google Wi-Fi Audit Proves Criminal Intent, Says Privacy Group
- Attorneys General from 30 US States Are Considering Pressing Charges Against Google
- Google Street View Wi-Fi Data Contains Passwords, Emails, France Says
- Google Under Police Investigation in the UK with the US Possibly Following
- Google Street View Cars Hit the Road Again