UK: Google breached data privacy laws

The Information Commissioner, Christopher Graham, has said that Google committed a “significant breach” of the Data Protection Act when it collected personal data in the development of its Street View product. The Internet giant gathered information that included full emails and passwords. Graham refused to impose a financial penalty on the company, but said that Google must sign an undertaking to ensure such breaches do not happen again. In July, the Information Commissioner’s Office had ruled that no data breach had occurred. The culture minister, Ed Vaizey, also said last week that the Metropolitan Police had dropped its investigation into the breaches.