AG Jepsen: Stipulation Reached With Google, Inc.

[Kinsman, Susan]

STATE OF CONNECTICUT ~ OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL                        

ATTORNEY GENERAL GEORGE JEPSEN

 

STIPULATION REACHED WITH GOOGLE, INC.

OVER COLLECTION OF WI-FI PAYLOAD DATA

 

For Immediate Release                                                                      FRIDAY JAN. 28, 2011

 

HARTFORD – Attorney General George Jepsen and Consumer Protection Commissioner Jerry Farrell said they have reached an agreement with Google, Inc. over the company’s objection to a Civil Investigative Demand             requiring it to produce data it collected from unsecured wireless networks in Connecticut.

 

Google collected information, called “payload data,” being transmitted over unsecured business and personal wireless networks in Connecticut between 2008 and September, 2009. The company used “Street View” cars equipped with cameras and an antenna to collect the payload data.

 

The stipulation will allow Google and the state of Connecticut, and the 40-state coalition it is leading, to begin negotiations to resolve the data collection issue without going to court to enforce the Civil Investigative Demand, equivalent to a subpoena, issued in December on behalf of the state.

 

“This is a good result for the people of Connecticut. The stipulation means we can proceed to negotiate a settlement of the critical privacy issues implicated here without the need for a protracted and costly fight in the courts,  although we are ready to do so if we are unable to come to a satisfactory agreement through negotiation,” Jepsen said.

 

The subpoena was issued after Google refused to provide access to information requested to confirm that Google had gathered private information and to determine the frequency of any violations of law. Google has now stipulated that while collecting network identification information for use in offering “location aware” services, it did in fact collect and store the payload data that contained private information.

 

In particular, Google stipulates, for purposes of settlement discussions, that the payload data collected contained URLs of requested Web pages, partial or complete e-mail communications or other information, including confidential and private information the network user was transmitting over the unsecured network while Google’s Street View car was within range.

 

Google also will not contest during settlement negotiations that such private information was collected every day that the Street View cars operated.

 

Assistant Attorneys General Matthew Fitzsimmons and Phillip Rosario worked to secure this agreement. It was signed Friday. Negotiations with Google are continuing.

           

 

 

Susan E. Kinsman

Director of Communications

Office of the Attorney General

55 Elm Street

P.O. Box 120

Hartford, CT 06106

 

Phone: 860.808.5324; cell: 860.478.9581

Fax:     860.808.5387

Email: Susan....@ct.gov

URL:   http://ct.gov/ag/

____________________________

CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION: The information contained in this e-mail is confidential and protected from general disclosure. If the recipient or the reader of this e-mail is not the intended recipient, or person responsible to receive this e-mail, you are requested to delete this e-mail immediately and do not disseminate or distribute or copy. If you have received this e-mail by mistake, please notify us immediately by replying to the message so that we can take appropriate action immediately and see to it that this mistake is rectified.