Google promises to delete Street View data
Google undertook yesterday to delete all the Wi-fi data collected by its Street View cars when they were mapping the city, with verification to be carried out by an independent third party.
The undertaking follows international controversy and a meeting between Google and the privacy commissioner last month.
The search engine giant earlier admitted it had collected personal data sent over unencrypted Wi-fi networks when its cars were recording panoramic views of cities in more than 30 countries, including Hong Kong, over the past four years for use on the Street View service in Google Maps.
The admission stirred a privacy crisis around the world, leaving the company facing investigations and lawsuits from the US and Canada, to Germany, Australia and Spain.
'I am pleased that Google has finally agreed to give a formal undertaking which assures me that appropriate remedial measures are being taken and which addresses the public concern in Hong Kong that Google had wrongly collected the payload data,' Privacy Commissioner Roderick Woo Bun said yesterday.
The commissioner did not elaborate on what kind of personal data Google had collected and from whom, but the data might include e-mails and the histories of websites browsed by users.
In the undertaking, Google confirmed that it had ceased operation of its Street View cars and promised that it would not collect Wi-fi data if the cars were operated again. It also undertook to carry out a complete deletion of data collected.
But the commissioner will not decide on when the data should be deleted or other moves until he has received an analysis of the data by an independent technical firm.
Meanwhile, Google is storing the data securely and has complied with and is assisting the commissioner's investigation.
Hong Kong Internet Society chairman Charles Mok welcomed the privacy commissioner's move to investigate the data.
He said the commissioner, who had handled many cases involving data leaks, would inform the victims if they were seriously affected.
'It remains to be seen whether the data that Google will provide is sufficient,' he said.
'The commissioner should ascertain whether Google acted out of ignorance or whether there might be any other motives as this should have a bearing on how the commissioner deals with Google, even if they have taken action to rectify some of the damage done.'
Woo said earlier that because it had made 'mistake after mistake', he did not accept Google's assertion that it had acted out of ignorance.
The Street View service allows users to experience 360-degree street-level views of more than 200 cities through real photographs on Google Maps. The service was launched in Hong Kong in March.
To capture all the Hong Kong images for the service, the Street View car drove 7,912 kilometres around the city, the equivalent of 3,663 trips across the Tsing Ma Bridge, according to Google statistics.
