ICO Google investigation was 'non-technical'

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The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has been slammed by an MP for not sending “technical people” when it investigated Google in July.

Google escaped any reprimand from the UK privacy watchdog, after an initial investigation into the search giant’s collection of payload data over unprotected Wi-Fi connections during its Street View operation.

The ICO said no significant data had been taken but Google then admitted it had stored passwords, emails and URLs. A new investigation was launched, at the end of which the ICO ruled Google had seriously infringed UK data protection laws.

Robert Halfon MP, who had recently been garnering support for greater Government action on internet privacy, has now criticised July’s investigation after asking in Parliament what staff the ICO had sent to Google headquarters in July.

Fellow Conservative and parliamentary under secretary Jonathan Djanogly, responded: “Two staff from the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) participated in the visit to Google's headquarters in July 2010.”

“As an assistant commissioner and a strategic liaison group manager, they were both senior staff with considerable experience in data protection law. This information was provided by the ICO,” he added.

Halfon told the Guardian it was “astonishing” the ICO “seemingly did not send technical people to investigate the Google breach.”

"The ICO seems more Keystone Cops than protector of our civil liberties. It is extraordinary that the ICO can spend £13 million on PR over 10 years but can't find the right resources to investigate breaches of our data protection."

An ICO spokesperson told IT PRO the workers sent to Google headquarters were “long standing data protection experts.”

“They are qualified to judge whether any of the information collected by Google was meaningful personal data and whether the Data Protection Act was breached,” the spokesperson added.

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