Google has been slapped with a $25,000 fine by the U.S. Federal Communciations Commission for “deliberately imped[ing] and delay[ing]” the FCC’s investigation into a scandal over Google’s collection of internet user data during its ongoing StreetView mapping project. The fine came late Friday in an FCC report.
In the report, the FCC states that it found Google “willfully and repeatedly violated Commission orders to produce certain information and documents,” specifically internal emails, and as such should pay $25,000 for its “noncompliance.”
The controversy first began in the summer of 2010, when a German data protection agency began probing Google’s collection of data using its StreetView mapping cars. Google first denied, but later admitted to collecting personally identifiable user information, including the contents of emails, texts and other Web usage data, using its StreetView mapping vehicles, between May 2007 and May 2010. Google said that the collection occurred by accident, and has since stopped the practice.
