SYDNEY: Google is set to face a Federal police investigation in Australia after it was announced the search giant and its employees will be investigated for collecting private information while taking photographs for the Street View service.
The move comes after it was reported last month that Google's Street View cars had collected data from personal wi-fi networks while taking photographs in countries including Australia.
A spokesperson for Google revealed that the company first learned of the investigation from today's press reports, in which Federal Attorney-General Robert McClelland said he had referred the matter to the Australian Federal Police on Friday.
A Google statement said: “This was a mistake for which we are profoundly sorry. We are talking to the appropriate authorities to answer any questions they have."
The investigation will centre on whether Google breached Australia's telecommunication system act, which prevents people and organisations from accessing electronic communications without prior consent from relevant authorities.
Last month, Australian communication minister, Stephen Conroy, described the incident as the “single greatest breach in the history of privacy”.
The scandal first emerged in early May when the data protection authority (DPA) for Hamburg, Germany, asked Google for a detailed breakdown of the wi-fi data it had collected for use in location-based products such as Google Maps.
During the course of the review, Google discovered it had mistakenly included code in its software that collected samples of so-called payload data, which may include information about individual bank accounts.
Google has since claimed that it has not used this data in any Google products, while the German authorities have already launched an investigation similar to the one now under way in Australia.
The launch of the Australian investigation coincides with National Cyber Security Awareness Week, which aims to inform Australians about the importance of cyber security and highlights steps people can take to protect their personal and financial information online.
According to the initiative, up to one third of Australians don't always use their wireless connections with passwords, making them vulnerable to security attacks
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