• Marketing Land
  • Sections
    • CMO
    • Social
    • SEM
    • SEO
    • Analytics
    • Display
    • Retail
    • MarTech
    • Resources
    • More
    • Home
  • Marketing Land
  • CMO
  • Social
  • SEM
  • SEO
  • Analytics
  • Display
  • Retail
  • MarTech
  • Resources
  • More
  • SUBSCRIBE

Marketing Land

Marketing Land
  • CMO
  • Social
  • SEM
  • SEO
  • Analytics
  • Display
  • Retail
  • MarTech
  • Resources
  • More
  • Home
  • Newsletters
  • Home
CMO Zone

Google Has 35 Days To Delete UK “SpyView” Data Or Face “Criminal Action”

The UK data protection authority Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has served notice that Google must destroy personal information obtained from its Street View WiFi “payload” data collection within 35 days. While Google has a right to appeal the decision, a refusal to comply (absent an appeal) is considered a “criminal office” and could result in […]

Greg Sterling on June 21, 2013 at 12:20 pm
  • More

google-street-view-carThe UK data protection authority Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has served notice that Google must destroy personal information obtained from its Street View WiFi “payload” data collection within 35 days. While Google has a right to appeal the decision, a refusal to comply (absent an appeal) is considered a “criminal office” and could result in prosecution.

The ICO letter (.pdf and below) is dated June 11, so the deadline would be mid-July.

This ultimatum is the culmination of a UK investigation that began in 2010 following the “WiSpy” revelations that launched investigations in the US and throughout Europe. Google has received some modest fines in Europe and the US but largely escaped any major consequences for the episode.

The renewed publicity is unwelcome at a time when Google is seeking to present itself as a champion of transparency and consumer privacy in the wake of the recent NSA surveillance disclosures.

The first revelation that Google had collected sensitive ”payload” information came in May 2010. Google cofounder Sergey Brin admitted the problem at Google’s I/O developer conference and characterized it as a “mistake.”

A subsequent FCC investigation revealed that the data capture was intentional and instigated by an engineer at Google who believed the data might be useful to Google later. Because the engineer invoked his 5th Amendment against self-incrimination, the FCC decided not to pursue a criminal case against Google.

After the FCC report, the UK reopened its own investigation and the deadline above is a result. Google is currently facing multiple privacy related investigations and demands in Europe, including a pan-European ultimatum to make changes in its consolidated privacy policy or face fines.

The ICO demand to destroy the personal “payload” data is contained in the letter below:

Within 35 days of the date of this notice the data controller [Google] shall securely destroy any personal data within the meaning of the Data Protection Act 1998 held on vehicle discs and collected in the UK using Street View vehicles (to the extent that the data controller has no other legal obligations to retain such data) and, If the data controller subsequently discovers a StreetView vehicle disk holding personal data and collected in the UK it shall promptly inform the Information Commissioner.
It’s not immediately clear how challenging this would be to accomplish or what other non-personal data Google might have to sacrifice in the process.

Google inc-enforcement-notice-11062013 from gesterling

Opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily Marketing Land. Staff authors are listed here.



About The Author

Greg Sterling
Greg Sterling is a Contributing Editor to Search Engine Land, a member of the programming team for SMX events and the VP, Market Insights at Uberall.

Related Topics

Channel: CMO ZoneGoogle: CriticsGoogle: LegalGoogle: MapsGoogle: MobileGoogle: Street ViewLegalLegal: Privacy

We're listening.

Have something to say about this article? Share it with us on Facebook, Twitter or our LinkedIn Group.

Get the daily newsletter digital marketers rely on.
See terms.

ATTEND OUR EVENTS

MarTech 2021: March 16-17

MarTech 2021: Sept. 14-15

MarTech 2020: Watch On-Demand

×

Attend MarTech - Click Here


Learn More About Our MarTech Events

April 13, 2021: SMX Create

May 18-19, 2021: SMX London

June 8-9, 2021: SMX Paris

June 15-16, 2021: SMX Advanced

June 21-22, 2021: SMX Advanced Europe

August 17, 2021: SMX Convert

November 9-10, 2021: SMX Next

December 14, 2021: SMX Code

Available On-Demand: SMX

Available On-Demand: SMX Report

×


Learn More About Our SMX Events

White Papers

  • State of Email Marketing 2021 Report
  • Three Pillars of CRM Data Management
  • What Customer Experience Means in 2021
  • The 7 Phases of a Website Redesign
  • Rearchitecting Revenue: Accelerating Demand Through Data
See More Whitepapers

Webinars

  • Crawl Your Way Towards Better Search Results With Dynamic Rendering
  • The AI Revolution Is Coming to Every Stage of Your Buyer’s Journey
  • The Fundamentals of Link Building for E-Commerce & Affiliate Sites in 2021
See More Webinars

Research Reports

  • Local Marketing Solutions for Multi-Location Businesses
  • Enterprise Digital Asset Management Platforms
  • Identity Resolution Platforms
  • Customer Data Platforms
  • B2B Marketing Automation Platforms
  • Call Analytics Platforms
See More Research

h
Receive daily marketing news & analysis.

Channels

  • MarTech
  • CMO
  • Social
  • SEM
  • SEO
  • Mobile
  • Analytics
  • Retail
  • Display

Our Events

  • MarTech
  • SMX

Resources

  • White Papers
  • Research
  • Webinars

About

  • About Us
  • Contact
  • Privacy
  • Marketing Opportunities
  • Staff

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Newsletters
  • RSS
  • Youtube

© 2021 Third Door Media, Inc. All rights reserved.