A police statement said they suspected Google has been collecting and storing data on "unspecified internet users from wi-fi networks".
The firm recently admitted that its Street View cars had been collecting information over unencrypted wi-fi networks, calling it "a mistake".
Google is currently under investigation in a number of countries to see if it broke data protection or privacy laws.
"[We] have been investigating Google Korea on suspicion of unauthorised collection and storage of data on unspecified Internet users from wi-fi networks," the Korean National Police Agency (KNPA) said in a statement.
Korean media reported that 19 KNPA agents raided the office, seizing hard drives and related documents.
The Korea Times and JoongAng Daily are the two domestic English-language outlets with the story early Wednesday morning Seoul time.
4 comments:
Uh, does Google even HAVE StreetView cars in Korea? I can't imagine how they would possibly work here, unless they're just sticking to primary 4-lane roads.
And aren't the KNPs about 3 months late on this one?? Jeez, did it take that long to get translations from the English news stories about it‽ If they're gonna show up this late to the party, they could have at least bothered to get updated information about what was happening. Every time a local/federal agency has investigated this issue, it's amounted to NOTHING.
So, given the timing, and the ridiculous nature of doing a 20-man raid with hardware seizures ... whose dirty work is being carried out by the KNPs here?
Which domestic competitor paid them off to try knocking Google Korea down a bit?
I can't imagine how they would possibly work here, unless they're just sticking to primary 4-lane roads.
Naver (or is it Daum) has similar cars out there for their own version of streetview, and they do just fine getting the smaller streets. I can find the front door to my old Seoul apartment, and that's through a maze of meandering back alleys.
Which domestic competitor paid them off to try knocking Google Korea down a bit?
Whichever one comes out with a "new and improved" kick ass search engine in the next few months.
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