Senator wants answers on Google Wi-Fi data collection

Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., wrote Google Chief Executive Officer Eric Schmidt on Thursday seeking answers to her questions about the firm's admission this month that it had "mistakenly" collected private data from unsecured Wi-Fi networks.

In her letter to Schmidt, the Senate Commerce Committee member noted Google's admission that vehicles that snap photos for its Street View feature and Google Maps services scanned for wireless networks that collected the name and numerical address of such networks. When it came across an unsecure home or business network, the Google scanning software collected "snippets" of data from them that may have included Web sites, e-mail messages, passwords and other personal information, Klobuchar noted.

"This data-gathering raises serious privacy concerns," she wrote. "While your company publicly apologized and explained that the data collection was a result of an unintentional coding error, many questions remain."

They include what types of data were collected, how was it stored and who had access to it.

Klobuchar also asked to know if any Google software engineers or other employees had noticed the additional information in the three years the database was used, and what Google is doing to ensure it does not happen again.

In a letter to the Federal trade Commission this week, House Energy and Commerce ranking member Joe Barton, R-Texas, and Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., a senior member of the panel, raised similar questions about the Google Wi-Fi incident and also asked whether the firm may have broken any laws.

Google has acknowledged it made a mistake and said in a blog post a week ago that it was going to delete the data, has stopped Street View cars from collecting Wi-Fi data and has called for a third-party review of the software at issue.

A Google spokeswoman said Wednesday that Google "is working with the relevant authorities to answer their questions and concerns."