FCC Investigating Google Data Collection

[onehandle]

Source: Wall Street Journal

The Federal Communications Commission is investigating whether Google Inc. broke federal laws when its street-mapping service collected consumers' personal information, joining a lengthy list of regulators and lawmakers probing what Google says was the inadvertent harvesting of private data sent over wireless networks.

Key Republicans and Democrats in Congress have indicated that the privacy issues raised by Google's Street View data collection could be a factor when lawmakers consider new Internet privacy legislation next year.

Rep. Joe Barton of Texas, a senior Republican lawmaker, suggested last week on C-SPAN that Google's data collection wasn't accidental and that it was "something to look at."

The FCC opened its investigation earlier this year. "As the agency charged with overseeing the public airwaves, we are committed to ensuring that the consumers affected by this breach of privacy receive a full and fair accounting," said Michele Ellison, the chief of the FCC's enforcement bureau, in a statement confirming the investigation.

Read more: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704804504575606831614327598.html

[DainBramaged]

1. Google and Facebook own the world's data

and we let them steal it.

[Dawson Leery]

2. The negative media coverage of Mark Zuckerberg is too kind.