Google will be facing a slew of lawsuits for violating a federal law with its Street View data collection as the US Supreme Court rejected the web giant's appeal.
The US Supreme Court rejected Google's appeal in the Street View privacy case Monday, leaving intact the federal appeals court ruling charging Google under the federal Wiretap Act, Bloomberg reports. The new turn in Google's long-running legal battle over the Street View data-collection practices could result in lawsuits for illegally snooping on people between 2008 and 2010 to improve its Street View data.
Google Street View debacle dates back to 2008 when it first started capturing images of streets for its maps. The web giant also accidentally collected data such as emails, images, usernames and passwords from open in-home Wi-Fi networks. Google collected the data to confirm locations of its Street View cars without users' consent. This violation came to light in 2010 when Google publicly admitted and apologized for its doubtful practices.
Though Google assured that the data would not be shared or used for any purposes, authorities from around the world started investigating the matter. Many European union countries levied hefty fines. In March 2013, Google entered a settlement decree with Washington D.C. and 37 other states investigating the matter. The web giant agreed to destroy the data it collected over the years and pay $7 million as a fine.
Outside the United States, Google was fined $190,000 for unauthorized data collection by the German Data Protection Authority.
With the dismissal of Google's appeal in Supreme Court, the web giant will face class-action lawsuit from private legal bodies, which was allowed by the ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in September 2013, according to Huffington Post.
