South Korean Police Raid Google Korea
- 14 years ago
South Korean police raided Google's Seoul office this week to investigate whether Google has been illegally gathering data on Internet users. Google is already facing an investigation over similar actions in the U.S.
South Korean police said they raided Google’s Seoul office on Tuesday on suspicion that the Internet search leader had illegally collected data of Internet users.
The probe in one of Asia's most wired countries came as a fresh setback to Google, which is already facing an investigation over the same matter by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, as well as a variety of probes overseas and class action lawsuits.
The Korean National Police Agency said in a statement that police have been investigating Google on suspicion of unauthorized collection and storage of data on unspecified Internet users from wifi networks.
Google told domestic television station MBC that they had made an unintentional mistake while collecting data.
[Jeong-Kim Kyung-sook, Managing Director, Google Korea]:
"Some data was collected unintentionally while we were operating a Street View vehicle. We have discussed this matter with the government and we will closely cooperate with the investigating authorities."
Google has been preparing to launch its Street View service in South Korea since late last year. And police say the data collection was related to the launch.
Google previously said that the data was accidentally collected by its street view cars and has grounded the cars globally.
South Korean police said they raided Google’s Seoul office on Tuesday on suspicion that the Internet search leader had illegally collected data of Internet users.
The probe in one of Asia's most wired countries came as a fresh setback to Google, which is already facing an investigation over the same matter by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, as well as a variety of probes overseas and class action lawsuits.
The Korean National Police Agency said in a statement that police have been investigating Google on suspicion of unauthorized collection and storage of data on unspecified Internet users from wifi networks.
Google told domestic television station MBC that they had made an unintentional mistake while collecting data.
[Jeong-Kim Kyung-sook, Managing Director, Google Korea]:
"Some data was collected unintentionally while we were operating a Street View vehicle. We have discussed this matter with the government and we will closely cooperate with the investigating authorities."
Google has been preparing to launch its Street View service in South Korea since late last year. And police say the data collection was related to the launch.
Google previously said that the data was accidentally collected by its street view cars and has grounded the cars globally.