Barton, Markey Seek FTC Action On Google Wi-Fi Controversy
May 19, 2010
| 2:03 PM
Two key House Energy and Commerce members Wednesday urged the FTC to examine recent revelations that Google has collected information from private but unsecure Wi-FI networks.
Energy and Commerce ranking member Joe Barton, R-Texas, and Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., a senior member of the Energy and Commerce panel, wrote FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz about whether the FTC is investigating the matter.
Google acknowledged on Friday that if had been "mistakenly collecting samples of payload data" from private open, or unsecured, Wi-Fi networks. It disclosed the information after being asked by a German data protection official to audit the Wi-Fi data its "Street View' cars collect for use in location-based services such as Google Maps.
"Thus far, Google has acknowledged it collected private e-mail and Internet surfing data, but it has not yet clarified the extent or nature of the data collected," wrote Barton and Markey, the co-chairmen of the House Privacy Caucus.
Among the issues they asked Leibowitz to respond to is the type and nature of data Google collected, how it was stored and who had access to it. In addition they questioned whether Google's data collection practices violate "the public's reasonable expectation of privacy," whether the Internet firm's actions constitute an "unfair or deceptive act or practice" that harms consumers, issues under the FTC's purview, and whether Google broke the law.
The lawmakers also asked whether the commission has the authority it needs to "take necessary action" against such practices. If not, they urged Leibowitz to provide "legislative language you would recommend to enable the commission to act appropriately."
Google has acknowledged it made a mistake said in its blog post Friday that it was going to delete the data, has stopped Street View cars from collecting Wi-Fi data and has called for a third-party review of the software at issue.
European regulators have expressed outrage at the incident. The German privacy official who originally requested the audit of the Street View software has given Google until May 26 to hand over the hard drives containing data collected by Google's Street View cars or it could face legal action. "We are working with the relevant authorities to answer their questions and concerns," a Google spokeswoman said Wednesday.
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