France fines Google over Street View debacle as search giant blames China over Gmail disruptions

Internet giant Google has been fined over 100,000 euros by the French Government over its Street View debacle, which saw the company inadvertently take information from unsuspecting users’ public WiFi networks.

The development also comes as the company has once again blamed hackers for Gmail difficulties, saying hackers from China are causing disruptions to the company’s servers.

Google has previously said Chinese hackers were responsible for an onslaught of attacks that crippled Gmail accounts and the websites of other software giants including Adobe last year.

The French data protection regulator announced overnight it will fine Google over 100,000 euros – a record for the agency – as the company inadvertently took data in a way that constituted “unfair collection”.

“It is a record fine since we obtained the power in 2004 to impose financial sanctions in 2004,” head of the CNIL regulator, Yann Padova, told the Le Parisien.

Google responded in a statement, saying “we are profoundly sorry for having mistakenly collected payload data from unencrypted WiFi networks”.

“As soon as we realised what had happened we stopped collecting all WiFi data from our Street View cars and immediately informed the authorities.”

Google added that deleting the collected data has “always been our priority”.

A number of international privacy agencies, including those from Canada and European nations such as Germany, have scolded Google for allowing the mishap to occur. There were concerns the data collected may contain private information for banking and other secure activities.

The Australian privacy commissioner announced last year Google had broken local laws, but was unable to impose sanctions on the company as this would be outside its jurisdiction.

Google has attracted a lot of controversy over its Street View campaigns, with many residents of carious international cities claiming the program violates their privacy rights.

But the company has recorded a win in its battle over Street View – last night a German court ruled the practice of taking pictures from moving cars is legal, according to Deutsche Welle.

The case was brought against Google by a German resident who said that because the Street View cars used cameras that were three metres high, they were able to take pictures of her front yard over a two-metre hedge. The court found because Google allows users to opt out, the Street View service is allowed.

Meanwhile, Google has accused Chinese hackers of disrupting its Gmail service, saying that a number of customers have been complaining about their accounts in the past month. A separate service that allowed users to help find friends and relatives lost in the Japanese earthquake disaster was also blocked.

“Relating to Google there is no issue on our side. We have checked extensively. This is a government blockage carefully designed to look like the problem is with Gmail,” a Google spokesperson told The Guardian.

This comes after the company said earlier this month that it has noticed some “highly targeted and apparently politically motivated attacks against our users”.

This is not the first skirmish Google has battled with China. Last January it suffered a massive attack it accused Chinese hackers of starting, and shortly after threatened to abandon its offices in the country entirely.