As scrutiny persists, Google debuts a new privacy tool for searchers

Although Google is constantly under scrutiny for privacy issues, the Internet behemoth finds itself in hotter water this month after admitting it gathered content traveling over wi-fi networks while surveying neighborhoods for its Google Maps application. Key House Energy and Commerce Committee members pressed the company this week to provide more information about the breach. 

“We are concerned that Google did not disclose until long after the fact
that consumers’ Internet use was being recorded, analyzed and perhaps
profiled,” wrote Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA), Ranking Member Joe Barton (R-TX) and Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass) in a letter to the company’s CEO and chairman Eric Schmidt. “In addition, we are concerned about the
completeness and accuracy of Google’s public explanations about this
matter.”

Google claims that the data collection was an accident and not
illegal, but has said it will cooperate with investigations of the incident.