FTC LETS GOOGLE OFF THE HOOK FOR ILLEGAL DATA COLLECTION

The Federal Trade Commission has concluded their investigation into Google's illegal collection of emails and passwords through Wi-Fi via its Street View vehicles. The FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection wrote Google a formal letter today noting "concerns about the internal policies and procedures that gave rise to this data collection," but satisfaction that the company's agreed to change all that and appoint a director of privacy. "Because of these commitments, we are ending our inquiry into this matter at this time," the document reads. [Engadget]

GOOGLE'S WIFI SNOOPING WORSE THAN ORIGINALLY THOUGHT

Google announced late today, Friday October 22, that the "inadvertent" Wi-Fi snooping its Street View cars engaged in is worse than we thought.  Apparently they captured entire emails, urls and passwords.   Google did find this on their own however.   External regulators combing through the data that Google illicitly collected discovered the true impact.  According to Google executive Alan Eustace "It's clear from those inspections that while most of the data is fragmentary, in some instances entire emails and URLs were captured, as well as passwords. We want to delete this data as soon as possible, and I would like to apologize again for the fact that we collected it in the first place."

In the wake of the illegal data collection Google appointed a new director of privacy for engineering and product management, announced that they're going to enhance "core training" for employees privy to private data, and tightened their compliance standards. [Gizmodo]

NOKIA DEVELOPING 3D RIVAL TO GOOGLE MAPS

Nokia, with its mapping division NavTeq, is working on a new 3D mapping system.  This system would rival Google's Street View maps.  Street View was debuted in 2007 and shows actual street views, but in a 2D environment.  Nokia wants to take it to the next level and make their views 3D.  Another noticeable difference between the two is Nokia will allow users to move smoothly through urban landscapes, almost like they were in a photo-realistic driving game.  Nokia may license the system for gaming as well. [Gizmodo]