The data privacy regulator in France has fined Google $141,670 USD for gathering data from private Wi-Fi networks while collecting imagery for Google Maps Street View.
Google Street View has been controversial from the start, as many people and organisations didn’t like Google collecting imagery of buildings and license plates for the panoramic view service, complementary to Google Maps.
Google responded to such complaints by blurring sensitive parts of the images. However, back in 2010, Google admitted that its Street View cars collected and stored data from unencrypted Wi-Fi networks. The incident instigated privacy probes against Google in countries all over the world, including in Australia, Canada, Germany, South Korea and the U.S.
