Google: Federal Ruling Allows Charges Over Wi-Fi Data Collection

A federal judge has declined to dismiss charges against Google that it allegedly violated the Federal Wiretap Act when it collected personal data from Wi-Fi networks. U.S. District Court Judge James Ware on Wednesday tossed accusations that Google's Street View vehicles broke several states' laws when they harvested usernames, passwords and emails from consumers' and businesses' wireless networks, but allowed the claim that the company violated federal law to continue.

Google's Street View vehicles began cruising American roads in 2007 as part of the company's mapping program. Along with snapping photographs of each street and collecting GPS data, the vehicles also mapped the location of Wi-Fi networks to build a database that could be accessed by mobile devices to determine users' whereabouts.

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