A Google Street View car with cameras and antennae. Photo by Steve Klamkin, WPRO News.
WPRO Newsroom
Rhode Island has joined 37 other states and the District of Columbia in a $7 million settlement with Google. The settlement involved Google Street View, a component of Google Maps that lets users view actual photographs of streets.
The agreement bans the use of unauthorized data, which Google collected from 2008-2010 on unsecured wireless networks nationwide while taking photographs for Street View.
Google’s Street View cars were equipped with antennae and open-source software; Google collected and stored data over unsecured business and personal wireless networks.
“Consumers should not have to worry that someone is going to access their personal web browsing information or email communications,” said Attorney General Patrick Kilmartin in a statement. “This settlement recognizes the privacy rights of individuals whose information was collected without their permission and sends a clear message to companies that privacy practices need to be implemented and respected.”
Rhode Island’s share of the settlement is $104,491, which will go into the state’s general fund.
Google has since disabled or removed the equipment and software used to collect the data from its Street View vehicles, and agreed not to collect any additional information without notice and consent.
The information that was already collected will be destroyed. Google said that the data was not and will not used.
