SleepyEgg

Authorities in both Germany and the US are expected to begin inquiries into Google's "accidental" collection of WiFi payload data by its Street View cars. German commissioner for data protection Peter Schaar has asked for a detailed probe of the incident while consumer group Consumer Watchdog has demanded that the US Federal Trade Commission look into Google's activities on this side of the pond.

The furor erupted after Google admitted on Friday that its Street View cars had been collecting more data than the company realized. The cars are supposed to only take photos of the street and collect basic WiFi information, such as the SSIDs and MAC addresses of WiFi routers. The WiFi data was to be used in Google's location-based services, and Google argued last month that it only collected the same data that was publicly available to anyone walking down the street with a WiFi device. Google insisted that it did not collect any kind of IP or packet data in the course of its WiFi collections.