Google Wins Halt to Street View Wiretapping Case for Appeal
July 18, 2011, 8:05 PM EDTBy Joel Rosenblatt
(Updates with Google response in sixth paragraph.)
July 18 (Bloomberg) -- Google Inc. won a halt to a lawsuit claiming its data collection using Wi-Fi networks for its Street View program violates wiretapping laws, allowing the company to appeal a ruling permitting the case to advance.
U.S. District Judge James Ware in San Francisco today granted Google’s request to put the case on hold pending an appeal of his ruling last month that its data collection, which included e-mails, user names, passwords and other private data, violated federal wiretap laws.
The class-action, or group, lawsuit was filed on behalf of residents living in nine U.S. states whose homes can be seen depicted on Google Street View, which allows users see photographs of roadsides. The case is the first in which a federal court is being asked to determine whether a company can be found liable under federal wiretap laws based on allegations that it intentionally intercepted data from a wireless home network, according to Ware’s opinion.
“In light of the novelty of the issues presented, the court finds that its June 29 order involves a controlling question of law as to which there is a credible basis for a difference of opinion,” Ware wrote in his ruling today.
In the June 29 ruling, Ware wrote that while Google publicly disclosed its intent to use vehicles equipped with cameras to capture photos, it failed to say it also intended to capture wireless data. The Mountain View, California-based company argued it couldn’t be found liable for federal wiretapping violations because the Wi-Fi broadcasts were unencrypted and “readily accessible” to the general public.
“We are pleased that the court has allowed us to appeal its recent decision on our motion to dismiss,” Google said in an e-mailed statement. “We believe the claims are without merit and that the court should have dismissed the wiretap claim just as it dismissed the plaintiffs’ other claims.”
Ware previously granted Google’s request to dismiss claims based on state statutes.
The case is In re Google Inc. Street View Electronic Communications Litigation, 10-2184, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California (San Francisco).
--Editors: Andrew Dunn, Glenn Holdcraft
To contact the reporter on this story: Joel Rosenblatt in San Francisco at jrosenblatt@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Andrew Dunn at adunn8@bloomberg.net
