Technology Blog

According to the U.K.'s Information Commissioner Office (ICO), Google did not grab "significant" personal details when collecting data from wi-fi networks. The results came after the ICO reviewed some of the data Google scooped up from unsecured networks. Google said the data was "mistakenly" gathered while logging wi-fi hotspots to help its location-based services. The body said it would closely monitor other global investigations. Information about the gathering of personal data came to light after data protection authorities in Hamburg, Germany requested more information about the operation of Google's Street View technology. This revealed that Google "accidentally" obtained data from unsecured wi-fi spots for years while capturing images of street scenes. The act led to many data protection authorities pressing Google for access to the data it obtained to see if laws on the protecting of personal information had been broken. The French data protection authority said it had se