Google rebuffed a asking from German data protection officials to hand overdata it erroneously collectedas part of Street View imagery .
Google had until midnight Wednesday to turn over a hard drive from one the vehicles collect the data to Hamburg ’s Data Protection Agency .
“ They told us yesterday that they refuse to give the toilsome drive because they are afraid they could infract German telecommunication police , ” said Johannes Caspar , who point the Data Protection Agency , on Thursday .
Caspar sound out he spoke with Hamburg ’s prosecuting attorney , who said they would not prosecute if Google turned over selective information to the delegacy . Google has been inform of that opinion , he said .
A Google spokeswoman in London articulate the company wants to follow with the request , but “ granting access to payload data creates sound challenge in Germany which we need to review . We are continuing to discuss the appropriate legal and logistical process for have the data available . We trust , establish more time , to be able to decide this difficult progeny . ”
Google could potentially face a € 50,000 fine ( US$ 61,000 ) fine , for not become over the hard parkway , Caspar say . But the agency plan to have keep on discussions with Google over the next hebdomad .
Google has concord to let expert from the means probe one of the vehicle used to collect Street View images as well as the original computer software that was engineered to collect dealings from non - parole protect Wi - Fi internet .
The data gathered include entropy such as SSID ( Service Set Identifier ) information and MAC ( Media Access Control ) addresses .
Google initially said it was not collecting the data . AfterHamburg ’s DPA requested an audit , however , Google acknowledged it had in fact call for the data .
The company said an engineer had written some code for an experimental Wi - Fi labor that sampled “ payload data point ” for publicly broadcast Wi - Fi networks . That computer code ended up in the package used in Google ’s Street View cars , which collect images of street scenes for Google ’s Maps applications programme .
Since then , information aegis officials throughout the humanity have undertaken investigation , include in Italy , France and Spain . Ireland and the U.K. said they would not take action if Google erase the information .
Meanwhile , the Hamburg prosecutor ’s agency pop a deplorable investigation last week into Street View . No charges have been filed yet , but the office has been in contact with Google , say spokesman Wilhelm Möllers on Thursday .
In the U.S. , Galaxy Internet Services , an ISP for home and occupation in Massachusetts , filed a class - action lawsuit against Google on Tuesday over the program .
