Foes say Google got slap on the wrist in Wi-Spy

Google earned about $38 billion in revenue last year, but the only penalty it's faced in the United States in connection with its Wi-Spy scandal is a mere $25,000 fine. Some say the penalty, issued for obstructing the investigation and not for violating the law, is a slap on the wrist — too small of a price to pay for collecting troves of personal information from citizens' home networks.

"The federal government ought to be asking more questions and seeking more answers," said Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), who served as Connecticut's attorney general when his state and others began investigating the incident in 2010. The senator said that there "needs to be some oversight" — not just over how and why Google collected the data, but why federal regulators didn't pursue the matter more aggressively.