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Deutsch: Deutschland und Großbritannien stellen Datensammlung durch Google Str...
As Google's Street View service continue to be a controversial topic especially in Europe, Google has tried to clarify some issues about the data collected by means of its cars and the way it is used.
In February 2010, German officials threatened to take action against Google and, more recently, German data protection commissioner Peter Schaar was quoted to have stated he was "horrified" by the amount and type of data gathered by Google and demanded that the Wi-Fi database be deleted.
Germany's reaction drew the attention of the Information Commissioner Office (ICO), the UK's privacy watchdog. The ICO spokeswoman said British regulators were interested in how the data collected was processed and used by Google.
One of the main issues seems to be that Google is collecting Wi-Fi related data from people's routers as the cars drive on the streets taking photographs for Google Maps. Street View cars collect MAC (media access control) addresses and SSIDs (service set identifiers). The German officials consider that this type of data collection is illegal in Germany and ICO wants assurances and details related to this practice.
On 27 April 2010, Google's global privacy counsel Peter Fleischer explained in a blog post that Google's Street View cars were gathering information in three categories: photos of the street, WiFi network information, and 3D building imagery. In a letter also sent on 27 April to ICO and several other data protection agencies, Google wrote that it collected SSID and MAC information on routers that broadcast the names publicly and that information was accessible by anyone walking down the street with a WiFi-compatible device. The company insists that this type of information is public and that there are several other services that gather the same information, sometimes even for longer periods of time.
"This can be done without any intrusion into the privacy of a Wi-Fi network. (.....) We only use information that is publicly broadcast. It doesn't involve accessing the network to send or receive data," stated Fleischer.
The letter emphasized the fact that Goggle "never collects the content of any communications" from people's Wi-Fi transmissions. "In addition, the operator of the access point can choose to restrict the SSID from broadcast, and in many cases this will mean that the SSID is not received," says the letter.
Google goes transparent on Street View data collection (28.04.2010)
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2010/04/google-talks-street-vi...
Data collected by Google cars (27.04.2010)
http://googlepolicyeurope.blogspot.com/2010/04/data-collected-by-googl...
UK data watchdog to quiz Google on Streetview Wi-Fi database (26.04.2010)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/04/26/google_wifi_ico/
Google explains why Street View cars record Wi-Fi data (28.04.2010)
http://www.zdnet.co.uk/news/mobile-apps/2010/04/28/google-explains-why...
EDRi-gram: Article 29: Reduce the storing period of Google Street View's images
(10.03.2010)
http://www.edri.org/edrigram/number8.5/article-29-wp-google-street-vie...