Google Wi-Fi Roundup Has Lawyers Chasing Landmark Jackpot

Data from two hard drives locked up in the San Francisco federal courthouse may make or break an effort to hold Google to account for what privacy advocates call an unprecedented corporate wiretapping case. If 22 people who sued the company can pinpoint their personal data in a massive cache of communications that Google’s Street View cars captured from private Wi-Fi networks, their lawyers may be able to seek billions of dollars of damages from Google. If they come up empty-handed, an outcome the company is betting on, the case will join a stack of failed privacy lawsuits accusing technology companies of tracking, capturing or sharing personal information.