South Korean police raid Google offices

South Korean police on Tuesay raided Google’s offices in Seoul as part of an investigation into possible privacy violations in one of Asia’s most internet-oriented countries.

The probe was related to the company’s collection of data for its Street View mapping and photographic service, the police said.

Google might have illegally collected private internet data from late last year to May this year as it prepared to launch the service, the cyber division of the Korean National Policy Agency said.

A group of police officers searched Google’s South Korean offices and seized computer files and documents to see if personal information had been collected without prior consent.

The police plan to summon officials from Google Korea after looking into the data.

Officials at Google Korea were not available for comment.

The search company has sparked controversy in many countries after revelations that it had been collecting data from unsecured wireless networks as its vehicles intercepted snippets of e-mails and web-browsing information.

Google grounded its fleet of Street View cars in May when it discovered that its system for identifying the location of WiFi networks had been intercepting some of the data travelling over them. The cars have hit the road again in some countries.

Investigations into the group have been launched in several countries, including Germany, the US and the UK.

The company has blamed rogue code from earlier software for collecting the wireless data and says it has removed the problematic equipment from its vehicles.

The Korea Communications Commission, the state agency overseeing the telecoms sector, said on Tuesday it was also looking into Street View.

Kim Ji-hyun, an official at the agency’s privacy protection department, said: “We have investigated the issue to determine if any laws have been broken, as its camera vans were also picking up wireless signals, and personal information could be leaked in the process of gathering geographical data.”

But Mr Kim said that no conclusion had been reached over the case. The commission could refer the case to prosecutors for further investigation, he added.

If Google were found guilty of violating the law, company officials in charge could face prison sentences or fines, he said.