Google To Hand Over WiSpy Data To Authorities

Google is reportedly close to handing the Wi-Fi data it obtained from its fleet of Street View cars over to European authorities. Meanwhile it has also emerged that the search engine is attempting to patent the snooping technology.

According to the Financial Times, the WiSpy data will be handed over to the German, French and Spanish data protection authorities within the next two days.

Wi-Fi Mistake

Last month, Google admitted that its Street View cars had mistakenly collected Wi-Fi data, including personal information from citizens’ networks. A US federal judge ordered Google to hand over copies of the Wi-Fi data, with the encrypted data to be kept under seal as backup in case it was ruled as admissible evidence in lawsuits filed against it.

Meanwhile, data protection authorities in Germany, France and Spain were not sitting idle either and also asked Google to surrender the data.

However, last week Google denied regulators in Germany and Hong Kong access to the data. “We are continuing to discuss the appropriate legal and logistical process for making the data available. We hope, given more time, to be able to resolve this difficult issue,” A Google spokesperson told eWEEK on 27 May.

But now the FT has quoted Eric Schmidt, chief executive of Google, as saying that the search engine giant would hand over information initially to the German, French and Spanish data protection authorities.

The newspaper also said that Germany is considering a criminal investigation into Google’s practice.

Screw Up

Schmidt, meanwhile, has admitted that he cannot rule out the possibility that personal data, such as bank account details, was inadvertently collected.

“We screwed up. Let’s be very clear about that,” Schmidt said in the FT. “If you are honest about your mistakes it is the best defence for it not happening again.”

Schmidt also said that Google would conduct an internal review into all its privacy practices, checking all of the codes related to collecting data. The results of this will be revealed within the next month.

Meanwhile it seems that Google is also conducting an internal investigation against the software engineer who was responsible for the rogue code, which was in “clear violation” of Google’s rules.

Schmidt took the opportunity to defend his engineers and said he would not end Google’s practise of allowing staff members “20 percent time”, a time period when they are allowed to pursue their own projects.

“It would be a terrible thing to put a chilling effect on creativity,” Schmidt said in the FT.

According to the FT, the rogue Street View code that gathered the WiSpy data was devised by an engineer who drove around the Stanford University campus checking for Wi-Fi connections.

Schmidt said it was not clear at this stage whether this was a a “20 percent time” project.

Patent Pending?

Google’s case was not helped however when it emerged that it is currently attempting to patent this technology. A patent application document from January outlines a method devised by Google for gathering and analysing data sent via wireless access points.

“Thus, the client device 508 may be placed in a vehicle and data may be obtained continuously or at predetermined time increments,” says the Patent. “Furthermore, the rate of speed of the client device 508 may be factored into the analysis as well.”

Google has faced a number of privacy concerns of late, most recently over Google Buzz, which lets users post comments, links, photos and videos for Gmail users’ contacts to see. These contacts can then make their own comments and a social dialogue ensues.