Google Takes Photos. Also Data.

For years now, search engine giant Google has been sending fleets of cars all over the world to drive up and down as many streets as possible, taking pictures. For many people, the idea of having a photo of your house online that was taken out the window of a Google car was creepy enough but now comes word that over the course of taking all those pictures, Google also collected data from Wi-Fi networks they drove near. The company said that collection was accidental, they didn’t even know they had it until recently, they’ve never used it, and they want to destroy it as quickly as possible. But governments and privacy groups around the world are nonetheless furious at Google and are threatening legal action. We talk to Danny Sullivan about this. He’s the editor-in-chief of SearchEngineLand, a website covering the search industry. We also get legal insight from Michael J. Songer of Crowell & Moring Intellectual Property Group in Washington.