Google Admits Street View Cars Snagged E-Mail & Passwords, Is Sued re Saved Search Queries
After an admission by Google Inc. last week that the cars collecting data for its Street View mapping service inadvertently snared some entire e-mails and passwords from unsecured wireless computer networks comes news of a new lawsuit against the Internet search engine goliath on another front.
A San Francisco woman has filed a federal suit against Google in San Jose, Calif., and is seeking class action status, contending that Google has illegally shared search queries with third parties (advertisers), in violation of its purported policy and users’ privacy, according to a press release.
The Wall Street Journal article gives more details about enhanced privacy protection measures Google is now undertaking after the admitted inadvertent snagging of e-mails and passwords by Street View vehicles.
Related coverage:
ABAJournal.com (Feb. 2010): “Peeved By Google Buzz Privacy Issue, Harvard 2L Files Suit”
ABAJournal.com (June 2010): “Up to 30 State AGs Plan Joint Probe of Google Street View Data Intercepts”
Telegraph: “Google spied on British emails and computer passwords”
Wall Street Journal (sub. req.): “A Web Pioneer Profiles Users by Name”
