Assistant Privacy Commissioner Katrine Evans said today:

'We met with the New Zealand Police yesterday. We have agreed that we will now refer this matter formally to them, so that they can consider whether Google has committed a criminal offence by collecting payload data from wi-fi networks during its Street View filming.

'We will continue to consider the privacy angles, but we have no further comment to make at this time.'

ENDS

10 June 2010

Links to other stories:

Office of the Privacy Commissioner media release: Google and Wi-fi Information Collection, 14 May 2010 (http://www.privacy.org.nz/media-release-google-and-wi-fi-information-collection/)

Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada has launched an investigation of Google WiFi, 1 June 2010
http://www.priv.gc.ca/media/nr-c/2010/nr-c_100601_e.cfm

Google Blog
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/05/wifi-data-collection-update.html

For more information contact Cathy Henry on 021 509 735.