SKorean police say Google collects personal info

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SEOUL, South Korea – Google Inc. collected e-mails and other personal information from unsecured wireless networks in South Korea while taking photographs for its Street View mapping service, police said Thursday.

In May, the American search giant announced it had inadvertently collected fragments of people's online activities from unsecured Wi-Fi networks in more than 30 countries, prompting investigations around the globe.

Street View provides street-level images on Google Earth and Google Maps. Google said entire e-mails, URLs and passwords were among items its researchers collected.

Google accessed private data as its cars took photos of neighborhoods in Seoul and three other major cities in South Korea between October 2009 and May 2010, said Jung Suk-hwa, a police officer in charge of the investigation.

Jung said the police reached the preliminary conclusion after analyzing hard disks obtained from Google, noting that police plan to wrap up the investigation as early as this month.

South Korea's mass-circulation Dong-a Ilbo newspaper first reported the case on Thursday.

Police suspect Google's activities break South Korean laws protecting privacy of telecommunications. It was not immediately clear whether Google and its officials might be prosecuted or penalized here.

Google apologized for intruding and vowed to continue to cooperate with South Korean authorities.
 
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