ExtraTorrent-Brazil Require Google to Disclose Street View Data

[Atreides]

Brazilian judges have ordered Google to hand over private data gathered via its Street View program. The company should understand how serious the judges are after they warned that the tech giant will face a daily fine of $50,000, up to a maximum of $500,000 if it doesn’t comply.

However, the company pays over $500,000 daily on stocking the vending machines at the Goolgeplex, so it definitely can afford to drag its feet on the order. In addition, Google has a right to be stroppy about the court order too. The company got into hot water over software in its Street View cars which were collecting Wi-Fi information. The issue was moved to the court and the tech giant had to pay lots of money on multiple court cases. It looked like Google learned its lesson and promised never to do that again.

Now Google faced a complaint from the Brazilian Institute of Computer Policy and Rights (IBDI), claiming that the company is using car-borne software to access private wireless networks and intercept personal information and electronic communications. Brazil pointed to similar occurrences in other parts of the world and demanded that the company reveal if it had anything to do with such practices.

The matter is that the current case is based on the recent outrage of the US National Security Agency spying in Brazil. At the time, NSA targets included President Dilma Rousseff’s communications, those of state-run energy giant Petrobras and emails and phone calls of millions of citizens of Brazil. As for Google, the company has denied any connection to America’s electronic snooping, which was mainly conducted by the powerful intelligence agency. However, Edward Snowden revealed that Google’s fiber optic cable was being hacked.

The Brazilian Institute of Computer Policy and Rights seems to believe that the company’s Street View project might be part of a plot by the National Security Agency to snoop on Brazilians today.

Google’s attorneys explained to the court that the debate on information collection took place in a few countries ages ago and that case was already closed, but it’s doesn’t seem to mean much for Brazilian judges.