EPIC, Congress Urge Investigation of Google Street View

[Cees Binkhorst]

REPLY TO: D66 at nic.surfnet.nl

Hieronder 'Google has
deleted payload data collected for Ireland, Austria, and Denmark and
has kept data by request for Belgium, France, Italy, Spain, Germany,
Switzerland, and the Czech Republic.'

Nederland wordt hierboven niet genoemd. Die zijn al een tijdje met
zomervakantie? Nog niet ontwaakt uit winterslaapje?

Groet / Cees

PS. Best wel 'spooky' die nauwe banden met NSA ;)

Op http://epic.org/privacy/cloudcomputing/:
EPIC Seeks Records on Google-NSA Relationship: Today EPIC filed a
Freedom of Information Act request with the National Security Agency,
seeking records regarding the relationship between Google and the NSA.
The press reported that Google and the NSA have entered into a
partnership following a recent hacker attack on Google originating from
China. The EPIC FOIA request also seeks NSA communications with Google
regarding Google's failure to encrypt Gmail and cloud computing
services. In March 2009, EPIC filed a complaint with the Federal Trade
Commission urging it to investigate the adequacy of Google's cloud
computing privacy and security safeguards. Today EPIC also filed a
lawsuit against the National Security Agency and the National Security
Council, seeking a key document governing national cybersecurity policy.
For more information, see EPIC FOIA Litigation and EPIC Cloud Computing.
(Feb. 4, 2010)

In email rondzendbrief [EPIC NEWS] EPIC Alert 17.11 4 juni 2010:
=======================================================================
[1] EPIC, Congress Urge Investigation of Google Street View
=======================================================================

Last week, Congressmen Henry Waxman (D-CA), Joe Barton (R-TX), and
Edward Markey (D-MA) wrote a detailed letter to Google CEO Eric Schmidt
requesting specific details on the type and scope of information
collected by Google's Street View vehicles. This letter follows a May
18, 2010 letter from EPIC to Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
Chairman Julius Genachoski, recommending the Commission open an
investigation into the significant communications privacy issues
arising from the data collected by Google's Street View vehicles and a
May 19, 2010 letter from Congressmen Joe Barton (R-TX) and Edward
Markey (D-MA) to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chairman Liebowitz
inquiring into the legality of Google's actions and asking the
Commission to investigate.

Over the past two months it has been made public that Google's Street
View vehicles have been collecting more than just a 360 degree
photographic street view for Google Maps when they drove through cities
worldwide. Google was also collecting data on wi-fi signal strength,
level of encryption, unique identifiers associated to open (i.e.
non-password-protected) wi-fi signals known as SSIDs and MAC addresses,
and the actual data being sent over the wi-fi connections (payload
data). All of this data was collected intentionally to support Google's
location services, with the exception of the payload data, which Google
claims was captured in error.

Google admits it has been collecting this communication data for years,
but never disclosed this activity prior to the audit request. In its
letter, EPIC highlighted Google's invasion of privacy and possible
violation of the Wiretap Act, which states, in part: "No person not
being authorized by the sender shall intercept any radio communications
and divulge or publish the existence, contents, substance, purport,
effect, or meaning of such intercepted communications to any person."

On request by each respective data protection authority, Google has
deleted payload data collected for Ireland, Austria, and Denmark and
has kept data by request for Belgium, France, Italy, Spain, Germany,
Switzerland, and the Czech Republic. However, Google has stated that it
believes that all other collected data is legal because the data is
publicly broadcasted information. In response to the public outcry,
Google has stated that its Street View vehicles will no longer collect
any wi-fi data.

House Members' Letter to Google
      http://www.epic.org/redirect/060410houselettergoogle.html

EPIC Letter to FCC
      http://www.epic.org/redirect/060410epicletterfcc.html

House Members' Letter to FTC
      http://www.epic.org/redirect/060410housememltr.html

German Federal Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of
Information Statement
      http://www.epic.org/redirect/050410germdataprotect.html

Google Blog: WifFi data collection: An update
      http://www.epic.org/redirect/060410googleblog.html

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