House Commerce Leaders Want Answers From Google

The leaders of the House Commerce Committee are increasing pressure on Google to provide more information about data the Internet firm says it mistakenly collected from private Wi-Fi networks.

In a letter Wednesday to Google CEO Eric Schmidt, Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA), ranking member Joe Barton (R-TX), and Rep Edward Markey (D-MA), a senior member of the panel, voiced concern about the incident and about Google's attempts to explain it. "We are concerned that Google did not disclose until long after the fact that consumers' Internet use was being recorded, analyzed and perhaps profiled," the lawmakers wrote. "In addition, we are concerned about the completeness and accuracy of Google's public explanations about this matter." They submitted a long list of questions for Schmidt and asked for a response by June 7. The questions included: What communities did Street View vehicles target for data collection from Wi-Fi networks? Were citizens in the affected communities notified about the data collection and offered a chance to consent to the practice? What is Google doing to ensure a similar incident doesn't happen again with new products and services?