Lawmakers urge FCC to investigate Google

Reps. Mike Rogers (R-MI) and John Barrow (D-GA) want the Federal Communications Commission to conduct a full investigation into a privacy breach involving Google's Street View.

"Nine months since Google first admitted to collecting this data, we still don't have answers as to how this security breach was allowed to take place and how many Americans were affected, let alone a credible assurance that it won't happen again," their letter to the FCC states. The lawmakers say the lack of progress is particularly concerning given the fact authorities in other countries such as South Korea have been able to review the captured data and identify hundreds of thousands of affected consumers. "As more and more personal information winds up on the Internet, we need to make sure that private data is as safe and secure as possible," Rep Barrow said. "That means ensuring that the companies handling this information are responsible and accountable, and Google owes the folks who use their service an explanation of how this security breach was allowed to take place and what steps they are taking to ensure something like this never happens again." The letter asks the FCC to conduct a full investigation, including speaking to the engineer Google claims is responsible for collecting and storing over 600 gigabytes of data. "It is difficult to understand how just one individual could have been responsible for a data collection operation of this scale," the letter states.