By now, Google’s cars have driven down roads around the world — and in some places, they’re sparking concerns about just what information they are collecting.

So the Internet-search giant is opening up a bit about the data it compiles. Google is trying to address criticisms that have been leveled against it in European countries in particular and provided details about Street View cars in a post on its European Public Policy Blog on Tuesday. The company said it had discussed the information before but that it wanted to make it more easily accessible.

Privacy officials from 10 countries, including seven in Europe, sent Google a letter earlier this month outlining several concerns. The letter said Google’s Street View service was “launched in some countries without due consideration of privacy and data protection laws and cultural norms” and said “there is continued concern about the adequacy of the information you provide before the images are captured.”

So what does Google get with those cars? As anyone who has used Google Street View knows, cameras on the cars collect photos that are used in Google’s maps, and people who are out and about when the car passes can appear in images. Google reduced the amount of time it retains unblurred images in Europe, bowing to pressure from European privacy authorities. But the company has been urged to cut the time further. Google also allows people to request that images of them be removed, and a Google Germany spokeswoman told Bloomberg in March that the company would announce when it was driving by to take photos in that country.

In addition to photos, the cars gather information about Wi-Fi networks they encounter. This feature isn’t as well known, and it sparked a new round of criticism in Germany last week, with Germany’s federal commissioner for data protection saying he was “horrified” by the discovery. That’s why Google’s recent blog post devotes a considerable amount of time to explaining what Google is doing with Wi-Fi data.

Wi-Fi networks broadcast information such as the name of the network and a number given to the Wi-Fi device. In its post, Google explains that it collects this data to improve location-based services where GPS is slow or unavailable or for devices that aren’t GPS-enabled. Those devices can still triangulate location using transmissions from things like Wi-Fi networks and cellphone towers that Google has identified.

via Google Opens Up on What Its ‘Street View’ Cars Collect – Digits – WSJ.

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