Now this bit of news will most likely not sit well with investors in Google, after the Internet search giant mentioned that they did not manage to hold up the end of their bargain to delete the slew of personal data, including emails, from its Street View cars which went around Britain and other countries a couple of years ago to pick up vital Street View data. In May 2010, Google owned up that their vehicles which were used to photograph neighborhoods in order to create street level images, had inadvertently collected data from unsecured wireless networks as well, and this encompassed emails and other personal data from residents in over 30 countries. This particular shortcoming on Google’s part saw Britain’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) notified, and the ICO mentioned, “The ICO is clear that this information should never have been collected in the first place and the company’s failure to secure its deletion as promised is a cause for concern.”
Peter Fleischer, Google’s global privacy counsel, mentioned in a letter, “Google has recently confirmed that it still has in its possession a small portion of … data collected by our Street View vehicles in the UK. Google apologizes for this error.” They are currently looking into informing the relevant authorities in other affected countries, which is always a good idea when you have not toed the line.
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