London - Google has been accused of breaking a promise to delete internet users’ sensitive personal data its Street View camera cars collected as they roamed around Britain taking pictures.
The company on Sunday admitted that it still held a “small portion” of the data, which includes emails, text messages and images and which Google undertook to delete in December 2010. It also issued an apology.
An Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) spokesman said: “Earlier today, Google contacted the ICO to confirm that it still had in its possession some of the payload data collected by its Street View vehicles prior to May 2010. This data was supposed to have been deleted in December 2010.
“The fact that some of this information still exists appears to breach the undertaking to the ICO signed by Google in November 2010. In its letter to the ICO today, Google indicated that it wanted to delete the remaining data and asked for the ICO’s instructions on how to proceed. Our response… makes clear that Google must supply the data to the ICO immediately.”
Google has consistently pointed out that it collected the data by mistake and admitted it as soon as it came to light. - The Independent