Google ends all Street View Wi-Fi data collection

Google has "no plans" to resume the collection of WiFi network data via its world-roving Street View cars, according to a report by Canada's privacy commissioner reprimanding the web giant for collecting WiFi payload data as well as network info.

"Google still intends to offer location-based services, but does not intend to resume collection of WiFi data through its Street View cars," the report said. "Collection is discontinued and Google has no plans to resume it."

Instead, the company will collect WiFi network data via handsets. "Google intends to rely on its users’ handsets to collect the information on the location of WiFi networks that it needs for its location-based services database," the report continues. "The improvements in smartphone technology in the past few years have allowed Google to obtain the data it needs for this purpose from the handsets themselves."

In mid-May, Google revealed that its Street View cars had been collecting data sent over user WiFi networks, contradicting previous statement by the company. Just a few weeks earlier, in response to a complaint from the German privacy authority, a Google blog post said that in scanning open Wi-Fi networks, its cars were collecting only the SSIDs that identify the networks and MAC addresses that identify particular network hardware, including routers.

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