14 DAY TRIAL // Following the serious Street View Wi-Fi gaffe, Google had grounded all of its Street View cars and stopped all collection of photos and other data. Investigations into the matter are still underway in several countries, but Google is now confident enough to start deploying the cars once again. This time though, they won’t be collecting any Wi-Fi data at all and all wireless networking equipment has been removed from the cars.
“In May we announced that we had mistakenly included code in our software in Street View cars that collected WiFi payload data. As soon as we discovered our error, we not only stopped collecting WiFi data entirely, but also grounded our fleet of cars globally to give us time to remove the WiFi scanning equipment and discuss what had happened with local regulators,” Brian McClendon, VP of Engineering at Google Geo, wrote.
“Having spoken to the relevant regulators, we have decided to start Street View driving in Ireland, Norway, South Africa and Sweden again starting next week. We expect to add more countries in time,” he announced.
The Wi-Fi hardware has been removed from the cars and so has every software component related to wireless networking. This has been independently verified by security experts Stroz Friedberg, Google said.
As such, Google contacted regulators in several countries, presumably the ones more friendly and forgiving of the company, and will start collecting photos and 3D imagery in several countries next week with more on the way. Ireland is an obvious choice; it is the home of Google’s European headquarters. In the other countries, especially South Africa, the Street View program is in the early stages.
Google is also listing exactly what type of data it will be collecting from now on. It will continue to shoot photos of the locations, of course, as they are central to Street View. It will also be collecting 3D building imagery data with laser scanners which are used to make its mapping products more accurate and detailed. Google points out that other companies are also collecting both types of data.
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