Google: About That Wi-Fi Payload Data We Said We Had Deleted …

Google admitted it had found that it still has within its possession user data from around the world that had been captured by its Street View cars. The company previously said it deleted, in late 2010, all the data its cars had slurped up through open Wi-Fi networks.

News of the remaining data got out because the U.K. Information Commissioner’s Office published a statement about it that included the full text of Google’s e-mail. Google said it was “in touch with other data protection authorities in the European Union” on the same topic. Other countries affected include Ireland, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Australia. Google had collected the data between 2008 and 2010. Google apologized for this latest error, which it said was discovered in a recent inspection of its Street View disks.