US ends inquiry into Google
US regulators looking at Google’s data grab by “Street View” cars have decided to end their inquiry, noting improvements that the search company has made to build consumer privacy into its corporate structure. The Federal Trade Commission said in a letter to Google dated yesterday that it was ending its probe with no penalties. The agency noted that Google had recently announced that it was appointing a director of privacy for engineering and product management, training key employees on privacy and building a formal privacy review into the early phases of new initiatives. But Google assured the FTC that it had not used and would not use the collected data in any product, the letter said.
“Because of these commitments, we are ending our inquiry into this matter at this time,” wrote FTC director David Vladek.