Google Probed for Data Mining

Not being evil isn’t always easy. Investigations into Google’s data harvesting will soon be launched by the Federal Trade Commission, as well as authorities in Germany, the Financial Times reports. The search giant recorded communications sent by people over the unsecured wireless networks in their homes. Privacy advocates, calling the data vacuuming “massive,” say officials should look into whether Google violated rules against accessing private computers and communication. The company says it was using cars equipped with cameras to take photos for its “Street View” maps, and that the cars also recorded WiFi addresses to improve its location services. Project leaders ignored the fact that they were picking up bits of activity on the networks, too. The cars have been in use for years, and Google only recently disclosed their wireless capability.