MADRID, 21 Jun. (Portaltic/EP) -
The UK Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has ordered Google to erase user data collected via WiFi signals using Street View cars. The US company has 35 days to delete the data or else it will be charged with contempt of court, which is considered a crime.
Google is once again facing the issue of privacy in the United Kingdom. The US firm admitted in May 2010 that Street View vehicles, which photograph neighbourhoods to create images of city streets, had accidentally collected data from unsecured wireless networks used by residents of more than 30 countries, including the UK.
The American company has faced several fines in recent years for this issue. Specifically, the Internet giant reached an agreement with 30 US states to pay 7 million dollars (5.3 million euros) and in Germany had to pay 145,000 euros in fine.
However, despite having paid fines in some countries, the United Kingdom acknowledged that it had not deleted all the personal data, such as emails, that its cars obtained by capturing photos for Street View. Therefore, the United Kingdom has reopened the case and obliges them to do so within a specific period.
According to the BBC, Google has 35 days to delete the data collected by Street View cars. The company must destroy all the data it had collected, given that last year it admitted that it had "accidentally" retained the extra disks. In addition, the ICO has told the search giant that it has to report if additional discs with information are discovered.
If the deadline stipulated by the ICO is not met, Google would incur a crime of contempt of court, considered a crime, something that would lead to greater problems for the American company. Unlike other countries, such as the United States or Germany, the ICO has assured that for the moment it would not impose a fine on Google for this fact. "The harm caused to individuals by this infraction does not meet the level required to issue a pecuniary sanction," said the head of the ICO, Stephen Eckersley.
Related links:
- BBC.
