Google ordered to delete personal data from Street View cars or face UK prosecution

Search engine Google has been ordered by the UK authorities to delete the personal data it collected from its Street View cars or face proceedings for 'contempt of court'.

Google has been slammed by regulators around the world for collecting personal information about individuals from public Wi-Fi networks with its Street View mapping cars between May 2007 and May 2010, the Guardian reports.

The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has ordered the company to delete the data, which was identified last year within 35 days, or face criminal proceedings.

The ICO has also asked the company to report back if any such disks are found, failing which it will be considered a 'contempt of court' and a criminal offence.

Privacy watchdogs in US said that the payload data held by Google contained traces of passwords, emails and text messages sent over unsecured Wi-Fi networks.

According to the report, the ICO concluded that the detriment caused to individuals by Google's breach failed to meet the level required to issue a monetary penalty.

Google accepted that it had collected the data and will quickly tighten up its system to address the issue and will cooperate with the ICO and delete the remaining data, the report added.