The eyes that are global eyes by Google on the road are back. The Google cars are back on the roads for the first time since it was disclosed that these car are colleting private Wi-Fi data on their data through the streets.
The change is however that this time around there will be no collection of any type of Wi-Fi data by them. For the uninitiated let us inform that these cars tour around the world in order to take pictures that can be added on with the Google’s Maps service as Street View. The trouble started erupting after many allegations against it Google finally admitted that these cars are in possession of a lot of encrypted data that they have collected when they pass through during their street tours. This was highly criticized by one and all and amid growing discontent these cars were pulled off roads since May. This incident that is famously termed as the “Wispy” incident saw both government and private agencies stand united in protest against this gathering of data by Google that was private and sensitive. Google as always was quick to realize their mistake and this resulting in the cars being grounded and pulled off the network.
On Friday it announced that the people will see the cars back in action on the roads of Ireland, Norway, South Africa, and Sweden, collecting photos and 3D imagery for the Street View service. This was allowed only since the enquiries of the governments of these respective countries into the tactics of data gathering by Google were completed. Many more countries will soon have the cars back on their roads once the investigations pending in those countries are completed.
The investigations are still pending in the countries like Germany, France and Spain.