AG to Google: Give Me the Data

Attorney General Richard Blumenthal really wants to know what information Google Street View collected as its cars toured Connecticut in 2008.

The Web search giant has been denying his office access to the information, and now Blumenthal is demanding the information.

He filed a civil investigative demand, which is a bit like a subpoena, to find out what the company grabbed from unsecured personal and business wireless computer networks in the state.

At first, Google claimed that the information was fragmented. But then, they admitted that they might have captured entire emails and other information, Blumenthal said.

“We need to verify what confidential information the company surreptitiously and wrongfully collected and stored,” Blumenthal said in a statement.

He wants to know whether emails, passwords, web-browsing and other information was improperly intercepted.

“Reviewing this information is vital because Google’s story changed, first claiming only fragments were collected, then acknowledging entire emails,” Blumenthal said.

Blumenthal said Google has until Dec. 17 to provide access to the information and his office will “scrupulously safeguard the confidentiality of information we review.”

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