Google Fined $25,000 for Impeding US Street Map Investigation

The Federal Communications Commission proposed a $25,000 fine on Google Inc., accusing them of purposely obstructing their investigation.  The FTC said that they were slowing down it’s investigation into whether or not Google was following the proper Federal rules for collecting and storing data fro unencrypted Wi-Fi networks back in 2010.

The FTC brought the fine forward late Friday night after being forced to take action on the case, they refer to as “Wi-Spy”.

“We worked in good faith to answer the FCC’s questions throughout the inquiry, and we are pleased that they have concluded that we complied with the law,” a Google spokeswoman said in a statement.

The $25,000 fine actually has nothing to do with Google doing anything wrong in compliance of storing the Wi-Fi data, but only because they held up the investigation.

Google issued a statement that it had turned all relevant information over to FCC and challenged the allegation that it was uncooperative.  Google said, “As the FCC notes in their report, we provided all the materials the regulators felt they needed to conclude their investigation and we were not found to have violated any laws … We disagree with the FCC’s characterization of our cooperation in their investigation and will be filing a response.”