James Riley reports:
The Australian Privacy Foundation is still seeking confirmation that the personal information of local citizens collected by Google Australia through its StreetView cars is being stored in Australia.
The organisation says if the personal data – including whole emails, bank account details and passwords – has been moved offshore it should be returned to Australia immediately.
But having written to all parties involved last May – Google Australia, the Office of the Australian Privacy Commissioner, the Attorney General’s department and the Australian Federal Police – the APF has yet to be formally told whether the payload data will be kept, or where it is currently stored.
Read more on ITWire. The AFP is clearly unhappy with the investigation and lack of transparency and responsiveness to their concerns, and they do not want the data destroyed until there’s been a fuller investigation and understanding of what has happened.
The Australian Privacy Foundation should make a FOI request of the Federal Privacy Commissioner asking for a copy of all of its dealing with Google. As of 1 November 2010 these applications are free.