Google Will Delete UK Wi-Fi Data It ‘Accidentally’ Collected

Google has taken the very brave decision to delete all the Wi-Fi data it had accidentally collected in the UK. The move signals the end to the long-running feud between Google and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

The BBC notes that not all people will be happy with the decision, particularly those who wanted to see Google punished for collecting the data. Maybe a fine, maybe something more than this public embarrassment. But no, Google essentially gets off clean as a whistle, excepting the possible damage to its public image. You’ll recall that Google has maintained since the very beginning that the data was collected accidentally.

What’s sorta funny is that the UK has no real public body whose responsibility it is to investigate data interception, such as what happened here with Google. This was kinda an ad-hoc investigation; the Home Office (sorta the UK equivalent of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security) is looking into how it can better help investigate these matters in the future.

So, yeah. Google will delete the data. I’m not sure if that will satisfy everyone, but what are you going to do?