Google's Apology for Not Deleting Street View Data Isn't Enough

Google has apologized for keeping user data it said it destroyed, but that hasn't placated its critics.

Steve Eckersley, the head of enforcement for the United Kingdom's Information Commissioner's Office, said, "this should never have happened in the first place and the company’s failure to secure its deletion as promised is cause for concern." Ireland's deputy commissioner for data protection, Gary Davis, said the same thing, but more harshly, calling Google's oversight "clearly unacceptable" while expressing "deep unhappiness." But more importantly, this misstep gives the ICO an opportunity to reexamine the data, which could make Google look worse, revealing the nature of the personal information Google collected.