Google aware of wireless data scoop
A Google engineer who wrote a computer program capable of collecting personal data from people's home wireless networks, told at least two other Google employees about it, although the company asserted it did not know, a US government report shows.
The fact was revealed in a Federal Communications Commission's investigation, but had been redacted out by the FCC when it released its report two weeks ago. Google released the report itself over the weekend, with only names and telephone numbers blacked out.
Google was fined US$25,000 by the FCC for impeding its investigation into the matter, in which the company's Street View cars collected the wi-fi data over several years while crisscrossing the globe taking panoramic pictures of streets. According to the Google-released version of the report, the company told the FCC it did not initially know about software that would gather personal data - know as "payload data".
