Just when Google thought they were in the free and clear, further privacy issues have rear their ugly head. It seemed like the uproar over the street car/WiFi data gathering had dissipated and that little more would be heard of it. Unfortunately for Google they seem to have tripped up and Privacy International are certainly keen to stick the boot in.
Google’s decision to have a third party conduct an audit on the gathered WiFi information seemed like the moral and legally viable option. It distanced Google from the public information and gave the impression that they had nothing to hide. Unfortunately in doing this they have presented the means to damage them straight into the hands of those who would seek to do so. Stroz Friedberg, the consulting and technical services firm hired to conduct the audit have produced a 23-page document investigating the entire fiasco. Unfortunately for Google, it is this very document which stands to be their undoing.
The non-profit privacy organisation Privacy International are using the audit document as evidence in a case against Google as they believe it shows beyond doubt that the gathering of data was down to a lot more than stray code left behind by a phantom programmer. Furthermore they assert that the interception of data was more of a systematic gathering than an unfortunate oversight. Privacy international wrote:
“The independent audit of the Google system shows that the system used for the Wi-Fi collection intentionally separated out unencrypted content (payload data) of communications and systematically wrote this data to hard drives.”
The full audit document is available, but what Privacy International seem to have extracted from it, is that there was certainly some intent behind Google’s ‘accidental’ data gathering. You certainly don’t have to look very far to find a motive, as Google have a reputation for using any avenue available to gather information on users. The address from Privacy International goes on to point out that this gathering of data puts Google “at risk of criminal prosecution in almost all 30 jurisdictions in which the system was used”.
With the head of Privacy International even intending to call Scotland Yard regarding the situation, this release of information has opened a whole new can of worms for Google. It looks like Google’s legal team will have to get their story straight instead of passing the buck to an unnamed, unidentifiable rogue programmer. Perhaps they’d have more luck blaming the one-armed man?
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