Google Wi-Fi Data Maybe Both Harm and Foul
May 29, 2010
“Google Keeping WiFi Data from German, Hong Kong Governments” reminded me of British Petroleum’s oil leak. The darned thing has made a big mess and BP may be tarred and feathered. Google is no BP, but it has managed to create a data mess that sprawls from Germany to Hong Kong and maybe other places as well. Google’s StreetView data collection is the pumping oil line. Deadlines for delivering data to various countries’ authorities came and went. Like the fisherman in the Gulf, government officials are concerned and annoyed. According to the write up:
Google is stuck between a rock and a hard place with this one, and the furor over the data keeps growing. Google doesn’t just have Germany and Hong Kong on its back either—certain members of Congress want to know what the FTC is doing to look into the situation, and a class-action lawsuit has been filed against Google, too. Simply deleting the data certainly seems like the most painless way out for all involved—Google has already done exactly this for data collected in Denmark, Ireland, and Austria—but it’s clear that several countries want to know exactly what information Google collected on its citizens before wholesale deletions can take place.
To add to Google’s interesting problem, a district judge in Oregon, according to the write up, “has ordered Google to turn over copies of the data it collected within 10 days.” I hope that the information in the article is not spot on. Assume the information is accurate.
What happens if multiple countries determine that Google’s data collection caused harm and was a legal foul? Companies cannot blow off countries. Countries make laws, have police, and have powers that may be non digital, but countries can make life downright miserable for those who ignore countries’ legal system. Getting arrested puts a crimp in one’s Internet surfing based on what I have seen in certain incarceration facilities. Maybe Google is different? Well, maybe not? Controlled chaos may not be the winning management strategy for this digital oil spill.
Stephen E Arnold, May 29, 2010
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