An Oregon judge has ordered Google to preserve WiFi data that was accidentally collected by the company’s Street View cars.
According to BusinessInsider, Google had previously announced plans to consult with privacy advocates and legislators over the best way to dispose of such information.
However, residents of Oregon and Washington who filed a class action suit against the Internet search giant demanded the data be preserved so it could be used as evidence of alleged privacy violations in a future lawsuit.
Meanwhile, Google has missed a deadline to turn over a hard drive containing illegally collected WiFi data to the German government.
“Since our announcement two weeks ago that we had mistakenly been collecting Wi-FI payload data, we’ve been working hard to address the concerns of data protection authorities around the world. The data protection authority in Hamburg has made a number of requests – including to be given access to an original hard-drive containing the payload data, and to a Street View car,” Google explained in an official statement obtained by CNN.
“We want to cooperate with these requests – indeed we have already given him access to a car – but as granting access to payload data creates legal challenges in Germany which we need to review we are continuing to discuss the appropriate legal and logistical process for making the data available. We hope, given more time, to be able to resolve this difficult issue.”
