Google’s legal department got some good news Wednesday. The Federal Trade Commission notified the company that it was calling off its inquiry into the search engine’s collection of consumer data transmitted over wireless networks by its Street View cars.
The news was announced in a letter to outside counsel Albert Gidari, a partner at Perkins Coie in Seattle, from David Vladek, director of the bureau of consumer protection. In it, Vladek said Google had responded to concerns that it had collected unencrypted “payload data” by appointing a director of privacy for engineering and product management, providing additional staff training on privacy issues, and incorporating a formal privacy review process for new initiatives.
“We ask that the company continue its dialogue with the FTC about how best to protect consumer privacy as it develops its products and services,” Vladeck said in conclusion.
Last week, Google announced on its website that it was creating stronger privacy controls. “We are mortified by what happened, but confident that these changes to our processes and structure will significantly improve our internal privacy and security practices for the benefit of all our users,” said Alan Eustace, senior vice president for engineering and research.
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