France fines Google over Street View debacle; no FTC penalty
updated 11:55 am EDT, Mon March 21, 2011
Commission satisfied with strategy change
The Federal Trade Commission has reportedly completed its investigation surrounding data collections from Google's Street View fleet. In a letter sent to the search giant, the agency announced an official end to the inquiry and notified the company that it would not be penalized. Across the Atlantic, however, France's privacy protection authority, the CNIL, decided to hit the company with a €100,000 (~$142,000 USD) fine.
The FTC was said to be satisfied with Google's remedial actions, which included new privacy leadership for the company's engineering teams and product managers, according to e-mail excerpts quoted by Reuters. An internal review process for privacy measures and expanded training for other employees also helped to assuage the agency's concerns.
In contrast to its US counterparts, however, the CNIL claimed Google at times was uncooperative with investigators, according to quotes posted on an ABC News report. Regulators had asked the company to hand over the source code for all devices used in the Street View vehicles, though the information was reportedly never provided for review.
Despite the FTC's closure, Google still faces potential actions from US state prosecutors and government agencies in several other countries.
