UK’s Information Commissioner Office Clears Google of Wifi Snooping

WASHINGTON, August 3, 2010 – According to the UK’s Information Commissioner Office (ICO), data Google accidentally collected about WiFi networks is unlikely to cause damage to those networks’ owners.

As Google Street View cars logged WiFi hotspots, they also logged information passing between personal computers and those WiFi networks. The ICO said that while there was no evidence that Google planned to use the personal data, they were still wrong to collect it. Google has since stopped collecting information about WiFi networks.

Google is still under investigation for similar problems in France, Germany, Australia, and Spain. In the United States, 38 states are involved in a large probe into Google’s data collection methods. The ICO said they will continue to review findings and conclusions made by these other investigations.