Subscribe free to our newsletters via your
. 24/7 Space News .




EARTH OBSERVATION
FCC drops Google 'Street View' investigation
by Staff Writers
San Francisco (AFP) April 15, 2012


US government telecom regulators have ended an investigation into Google's "Street View" online mapping service gathering data from private wireless hotspots.

The Federal Communication Commission (FCC) enforcement bureau on Friday called for Google to pay a $25,000 penalty for stalling the probe but said that it could not accuse the Internet giant of breaking US law.

"We worked in good faith to answer the FCC's questions throughout the inquiry, and we're pleased that they have concluded that we complied with the law," Google spokesperson Niki Fenwick said in response to an AFP inquiry.

The FCC began the investigation in late 2010 after Google announced that Street View cars taking photographs of cities in more than 30 countries had inadvertently gathered data sent over unsecured Wi-Fi systems.

Information sucked up by passing Street View cars included passwords, emails, and other data that was being transmitted wirelessly over unprotected routers, according to the FCC.

Google has since stopped the collection of Wi-Fi data, used to provide location-based services such as driving directions in Google Maps and other products, by Street View cars.

Street View, which was launched in 2006, lets users view panoramic street scenes on Google Maps and take a virtual "walk" through cities such as New York, Paris or Hong Kong.

The FCC contended that Google delayed the investigation by ignoring requests for internal information such as emails related to Street View data collection and the names of employees who authorized or reviewed it.

"For many months, Google deliberately impeded and delayed the bureau's investigation by failing to respond to requests for material information," FCC enforcement bureau chief Michele Ellison said in a written report.

"Although a world leader in search capability, Google took the position that searching its employees' email 'would be a time consuming and burdensome task'," Ellison continued.

Similar reasoning was given for not wanting to dig up names or statements from Google workers who authorized the collection of Wi-Fi data or analyzed information gathered, according to the FCC.

A key engineer behind the Street View data collection software was said to have exerted his legal right not to make any statements on the record to investigators.

"Google's level of cooperation with this matter fell way short of what we expect and require," Ellison said while backing the decision to require the company to forfeit $25,000 as punishment.

.


Related Links
Earth Observation News - Suppiliers, Technology and Application






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle








EARTH OBSERVATION
Envisat services interrupted
Paris (ESA) Apr 13, 2012
After 10 years of service, Envisat has stopped sending data to Earth. ESA's mission control is working to re-establish contact with the satellite. Although this landmark mission has been in orbit twice as long as it was designed for, ESA hopes to keep the satellite in service until the launch of the successor Sentinel missions. The first sign that there was a problem came on 8 April when c ... read more


EARTH OBSERVATION
Russia postpones Luna-Glob moon mission

Russia Plans to Launch Lunar Rovers to Moon after 2020

Russia to explore moon

Earth's Other Moons

EARTH OBSERVATION
Russia to Go Back to the Moon Before Reaching for Mars

NASA Planning Group Takes Key Steps For Future Mars Exploration

NASA seeks new ideas for Mars missions

Mars Express - Pit chains on the Tharsis volcanic bulge

EARTH OBSERVATION
NASA's Human Spaceflight Programs: From Space Shuttle To The Future

Commentary: Innovate or evaporate

United Launch Alliance Announces New Human Launch Services Organization

Private Lunar mission and the future of space tourism

EARTH OBSERVATION
China's Lunar Docking

Shenzhou-9 may take female astronaut to space

China to launch 100 satellites during 2011-15

Three for Tiangong

EARTH OBSERVATION
Commercial Platform Offers Exposure at ISS

Learn to dock ATV the astronaut way

Superconducting Submillimeter-Wave Limb-Emission Sounder (SMILES)

Busy first days for ATV Edoardo Amaldi

EARTH OBSERVATION
'Good chance' for SpaceX April 30 launch to ISS: NASA

Dragon Expected to Set Historic Course

NASA Awards Launch Contract For Goes-R And Goes-S Missions

Spy satellite-carrying rocket blasts off

EARTH OBSERVATION
ALMA Reveals Workings of Nearby Planetary System

UF-led team uses new observatory to characterize low-mass planets orbiting nearby star

When Stellar Metallicity Sparks Planet Formation

Study On Extrasolar Planet Orbits Suggests That Solar System Structure Is The Norm

EARTH OBSERVATION
SciTechTalk: Rude awakening for Mac owners

Controlling the cut - Nottingham engineers top the leader board

Moody's downgrades Nokia's rating, keeps negative outlook

Twitter alive with talk of dead rapper hologram




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement