Delaware gets piece of Google Street View settlement

Delaware’s Consumer Protection Fund will get a portion of a $7 million settlement reached with the search engine giant over how it collected personal and business information for its Street View service.

Between 2008 and 2010, Google Street View cameras captured pictures while driving through cities and towns around America, including in Delaware.  But in addition to pictures that were meant to be used in the Google Maps program, the company also collected network identification information.  The company also collected and stored data frames and other data that was being transmitted over unsecured business and personal wireless networks.

As a result, a number of states, including Delaware, sued.  This week, Google agreed to pay $7 million to settle.  Delaware will get $103,000 from that settlement.  

“Consumers have a right of privacy in their homes, a right that was violated when Google’s Street View cars captured their personal information without their permission,” said Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden.  “We’re protecting consumers whose information was compromised by ensuring that the data in Google’s possession is destroyed and we’ve acted to ensure that specific steps are taken to prevent this conduct from occurring again.”

In addition to destroying the private data that was collected, Google has also agreed to run an employee training program about privacy and confidentiality for the next ten years.  The company will also produce a public service advertising campaign to educate consumers about how to secure their personal information over a wireless network.