Google Loses Appeal, Wiretapping Case Can Go Forward

On September 10, 2013, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a class action lawsuit filed against Google for secretly collecting data from Wi-Fi networks can proceed. The lawsuit stems from 2010 when Google publicly apologized in for having collected "payload data" from unsecured wireless networks in more than 30 countries. Google was accused of having collected the data while driving its vehicles through neighborhoods from 2007 to 2010. Although Google claims that its Streetview cars were merely collecting Wi-Fi identification information in order to enhance its location-based services, the process actually collected more than 600 gigabytes of what is known as payload data, which is the actual data transmitted through Wi-Fi networks, including personal data such as emails, usernames, passwords, videos and documents.