The Federal Communications Commission isn’t getting answers from Google (surprise, surprise!) in response to an inquiry launched as a response to the “Wi-Spy” scandal, so the agency has just hit the Monster of Mountain View with a fine.
It’s tantamount to a slap on the wrist, but at least it’s something.
Google Inc. (GOOG) “impeded” and “delayed” a U.S. inquiry into its data collection, according to the latest in a series of regulatory probes of the company’s privacy practices.
The Federal Communications Commission is seeking a $25,000 fine after examining how Google gathered personal e-mails, text messages and other materials through its Street View location service, the agency said in an April 13 filing. That is the maximum penalty for failure to cooperate with an investigation, Tammy Sun, an FCC spokeswoman, said in an interview yesterday.
If only the FCC could tack on more zeros to the amount of the fine… maybe then Google would start to take the agency’s investigation seriously.