Google has formally apologised to New Zealanders for collecting Wi-Fi connection and traffic data during its controversial Street View mapping exercises, which began in 2007. This is one outcome of an investigation and discussions with the company by the office of NZ Privacy Commissioner Marie Shroff.
Google has promised to delete the “payload” data which it acknowledged was collected in New Zealand by vehicles involved in collecting street-level images. The Privacy Commissioner’s office emphasised that any especially private data such as banking transactions that could have been intercepted was encrypted and not readable.
Google will remove the Wi-Fi detection equipment from its Street View vehicles on future runs in New Zealand.
The Privacy Commissioner’s statement reveals that the NZ police at one time considered whether they should prosecute Google for a breach of communications interception laws. That, the statement said, is why the collected payload information was not immediately destroyed.
“It was important that any potential evidence was preserved for the Police to access if they wished to. However, the Police have decided that they are not going to prosecute Google. There is therefore no barrier to destroying the information.
“We believe that Google will not be collecting any more payload information in New Zealand,” said the statement. “Any deliberate collection of payload information in New Zealand without consent would be likely to be a criminal offence.”
The removal of detection equipment will also put an end to collection of open Wi-Fi data by Street View vehicles, but Google said it will continue to collect that data “through other means (eg mobile services),” said the Privacy Commissioner’s statement.
“We are discussing these new methods of collection with Google to make sure that they comply with New Zealand privacy law,” it added.
Google has also undertaken to provide improved privacy training to its staff, conduct a privacy impact assessment on any new Street View data collection activities that include personal information and provide the Privacy Commissioner’s office with a copy of those assessments.
This is not the first such case of data protection breaches in relation to Street View. Some 30 countries across the world, including Ireland, lodged complaints after it was discovered payload data was being accessed from unsecured wireless networks.
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