We reported in June that the Attorneys General of 30 U.S. states held a conference call to discuss investigating Google. Google’s capture of private information while using Street View cars to gather mapping information has led to a host of legal troubles globally for the company.
Now, this group of Attorneys General has grown to 38 (plus the District of Columbia). It has scheduled a Friday meeting with Google representatives and today it sent the company the latest in a long list of questions it wants answered.
Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, who is spearheading the AG probe, sent Google the letter on behalf of all the states involved. According to a statement issued by his office, he asked Google whether it had tested the Street View information-gathering technology prior to employing it.
Here is a partial list of the questions the group of Attorneys General want Google to answer.
- Did Google test the Street View information gathering technology prior to employing it?
- Who was responsible for the code that allowed the Street View cars to harvest private information?
- How could Google have been unaware of the presence of the code that allowed the cars to collect this data?
- How was this code uploaded to the cars?
- In which exact locations was private data collected?
“We will take all appropriate steps,” said AG Blumenthal, “including potential legal action if warranted, to obtain complete, comprehensive answers.”
Thanks to Simon Owens
