MADRID: Google has "illegally"
collected private data from Wi-Fi networks in Spain through its Street View
project, a crime prevention association said Sunday.
A complaint has
been filed against Google in a Madrid court, the NGO APEDANICA
said.
The Spanish Data Protection Association (AEPD) opened a probe
May 19 to determine if Google had broken the law protecting citizens' personal
data and rights.
Google blamed an "error" for the slip-up. Javier
Rodriguez, the company's director for Spain, said the data would be returned to
AEPD.
Google admitted the automobile fleet it used to take photos of
streets for its Street View map service, collected wireless network data for
several years that could include e-mails and passwords.
"Something
cannot be an error that was programmed carefully and that was done in 30
countries," APEDANICA chief Miguel Angel Gallardo told EFE.
The
association said the search engine could have committed a crime under Article
197 of the Criminal Code. It urged the court to indict the legal representative
of Google Espana. Violation of the law could attract one to four years in
prison.
Austria and Greece have banned Google's Street View
vehicles.
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