Google StreetView in privacy probe

WEB giant Google is being investigated by the French data protection authorities after admitting that its StreetView service accidentally collected details of some people's internet use in the streets it photographed.

Google's specially equipped camera cars have been touring French towns and cities since 2006, taking 360-degree pictures of every street.

However the cars also recorded information about every public wi-fi network it found - and accidentally stored details of any of the data passing through that network while the car was in range.

This meant that web users' personal browsing history and any information shared over the open connection was inadvertently picked up by Google during its rounds.

Google said the data collection was accidental and that it only collected small amounts of data in the brief period of time the car was connected to each network.

It said it disabled the feature in the camera cars as soon as it became aware of the problem.

The Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libertés (Cnil) said: "This collection was not mentioned in Google's declaration to us.

The commission is currently conducting a review of Google, in order to obtain all the information on this case and decide what action to take."

Cnil first investigated the Google service in 2008 following complaints that it invaded people's privacy.

The body dropped its investigation after Google agreed to blur the faces of people and number plates snapped during the photograph sessions.

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