Google "Mortified" - Admits the Privacy Lapse

Google admitted that it collected personal information, by accident, when it dispatched Street View cars to your neighborhood and ones like it all around the globe.

What did they collect?  According to their admission, in some cases, entire email messages, passwords, and the websites you visited.

Google indicated it would delete the data as soon as possible.

Google has recently appointed a privacy director.

In the UK, the Information Commissioner's Office, will be looking into the matter.

Google employee, Alan Eustace, quote was posted in the Telegraph:

"It's clear from those inspections that while most of the data is fragmentary, in some instances entire emails and URLs [web addresses] were captured, as well as passwords," said Alan Eustace, Google's vice-president of engineering and research.  "We want to delete this data as soon as possible, and I would like to apologise again for the fact that we collected it in the first place."

The original intent of Google Streetview cars capturing WiFi information was supposed to be to create a map of hotspots to help people on the go know where they could get WiFi access.


Sources:

"Google:  We're 'Mortified' about Privacy Lapse", Fox Business, 10/22/2010.

"Google Spied on British emails and computer passwords", David Barrett, Telegraph.co.uk, 10/23/2010.