Aussie police gets referral to probe Google on privacy breaches
The Australian Police were tasked to probe Internet giant Google for possibly breaching telecommunications privacy law.
The investigation commenced after Australian citizens complained on Google employees' practices where they collected personal information from online users as its cars took snapshots of the Australian streets.
The “Street view” service was criticized by several countries. The company, in its defense, said it has been used as personal data from unencrypted wi-fi services for several years.
Google said on Sunday it will cooperate with the Australian police investigation.
Robert McClelland from the Australian Federal Police said on Friday that Google may have breached the “Telecommunication Interceptions Act, which prevents people from accessing electronic communications other than for authorized purposes.”
The company's senior executive Alan Eustace told reporters last May its em0ployees had mistakenly collected personal data from wi-fi networks which involved unencrypted wi-fi networks, and ordered to halt the operations.
Mr. Eustace assured that none of the data were used in Google products.
Last month, Communications Minister Stephen Conroy lambasted Google for collecting data from Australian citizens as part of its Street View mapping service. He said the other countries are following similar breaches as well.
"This has been worldwide. Google takes the view that they can do anything they want," Senator Conroy said. "It is possible that this has been the largest privacy breach in history across Western democracies.”