Google fined $ 7 million over hotspot data grab

In a legal settlement with attorneys general in 38 states,

the Internet giant also agreed to ramp up employee training about data privacy and back a nationwide campaign to teach people about securing wireless networks.

Word that vehicles snapping panoramic photos in neighbourhoods for Street View images in Google\'s online maps were grabbing data from unsecured hot spots triggered investigations in at least a dozen countries, according to the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC).

At least nine countries have found Google violated local laws, said EPIC.In the settlement announced yesterday, Google again promised that email, passwords, web histories and other data captured by Street View vehicles in the United States between 2008 and 2010 will be destroyed.

"This settlement addresses privacy issues and protects the

permission," New York Attorney General Eric Schneider man said in a statement.

"Consumers have a right to protect their vital personal and financial information from improper and unwanted use by corporations like Google."

Google has since stopped collecting the data and has agreed not to do so without consent, the statement said."We work hard to get privacy right at Google," the

California-based Internet giant said in an email response to an AFP enquiry.

"But in this case we didn\'t, which is why we quickly tightened up our systems to address the issue. The project leaders never wanted this data, and didn\'t use it

... contd.