Lee Won-jin,
Google Korea managing director |
By Kim Tong-hyung
Police in Seoul seized computers belonging to the South Korean unit of Google as they investigate whether the Internet giant invaded personal privacy in preparing the local version of its ``Street View’’ mapping services.
Investigators acting with a warrant raided the Google’s office in southern Seoul Tuesday morning and searched the property until 5 p.m., returning with computer hard drives and other materials to look into suspicions that the company had gathered fragments of personal data sent over unsecured Wi-Fi systems. The intercepted information may include e-mail or instant messaging records transmitted over personal computers or smartphones, according to the police.
Police are planning to summon a number of Google Korea executives in an attempt to answer how the information ended up being collected by Street View. Google has been rapped over the privacy issues related to Street View in a number of countries, with Korea being the latest to aim an investigation at the firm.
In May, Google admitted that its Street View cars ``accidently’’ collected data from unsecured Wi-Fi networks in 30 countries due to some rogue code in the software used by the service. The company has been discussing the issue with Korea Communications Commission (KCC), the country’s broadcasting and telecommunications regulator, to quell the fuss over the privacy concerns here.
Google Korea representatives declined to offer a detailed explanation about the timing of the police investigation.
``In operating its Street View cars, which toured and took photographs of Korean cities to provide the content for Street View, we believe that Google collected more than serial numbers of the Wi-Fi access points, but also the personal data of people communicating over unsecured Wi-Fi systems,’’ said a police official.
``We will take a careful look into the computer data and other materials to confirm whether Google Korea has violated the country’s Communications Privacy Law or the Information and Communications Network Law. Should Google be found to have collected unauthorized information, we will consider ways to retrieve the data from the company.’’
Location-based service providers usually depend on Global Positioning System (GPS), but to provide Street View on laptops and smartphones without GPS capabilities, Google was looking to use Wi-Fi access points scattered around the city.
Street View allows users to view panoramic street scenes on Google’s digital photomaps. Google has been providing Street Views in a number of countries including the United States, Germany, Australia and Canada.
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yistory@koreatimes.co.kr
