Google’s South Korean office has been raided after suspicion that the search giant illegally collected information about its users. The investigation is related to Google’s upcoming street view services and specifically states that the collection of information from Wi-Fi networks is the cause for concern.
According to Reuters, "[The police] have been investigating Google Korea LLC on suspicion of unauthorized collection and storage of data on unspecified Internet users from Wi-Fi networks." This is not the first time Google has come under fire for its Wi-Fi collection, and the EU has already voiced concern about the behavior.
The practice that has come under scrutiny is when Google’s street view cars collect information from Wi-Fi networks as they take images for the service. Google compiles this data for use in other products and future offerings.
The investigation has just begun, so it will be some time before we learn the outcome of the raid in South Korea. Nevertheless, for a company whose motto is “Don’t be evil”, they certainly have come under fire from several government agencies as of late.
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