By Oregon Tax News,
Oregon is party to a multistate settlement with Google, Inc. for the unauthorized collection of information from unsecured wireless networks by its Street View vehicles. The agreement, signed by the attorneys general of 38 states and the District of Columbia, requires Google to educate employees on the privacy and confidentiality of user information, educate the public about securing their wireless networks, and secure and eventually destroy the unauthorized information collected between 2008 and March 2010. Google says executives were unaware of the “payload data” collection. The company has removed data collection software and equipment from its Street View vehicles.
The lawsuit is changing how Google is handling their privacy issues and may result in other firms following suit. Google now has new rules governing its employees over privacy which require training, education seminars on privacy and engineer oversight of new products.
privacy continues to be a reoccurring issue among Congress and state Attorney Generals as the new technology frontier (in this case street view mapping) creates new unforseen threats to citizen privacy rights.
