Google Korea received unwanted visitors on Tuesday when the South Korean police raided
its offices as part of an investigation on illegally collected and stored personal wireless data.
The U.S. search and advertising giant is already facing lawsuits and is being investigated in several countries in relation with private wireless data collected by its Street View cars. Street View was first launched in 2006 and allows users to view panoramic street scenes on Google Maps and take virtual walks through different cities.
From late last year until May, Google Korea had cars topped with cameras roaming around South Korea to photograph neighborhoods even prior to the planned launch of Street View service in the country this year.
The Cyber Terror Response Center of the Korean National Police Agency said police suspect that the cars may have captured and stored personal data from wireless networks illegally while they were mapping streets.
Police will investigate Google Korea officials and examine the data confiscated during the raid to see whether the company has violated the countrys laws on communications and privacy.
They also intend to find out the kinds and amount of data that Google Korea gathered. Illegally collected data which were stored through domestic Wi-Fi networks from the Google headquarters will be retrieved.
Google Korea officials have not yet provided their comments. Google said previously it did not intend to collect personal wireless data in other countries and that it was a mistake on their part. The company would cooperate with the pending investigations.
Google had problems breaking through South Koreas internet market, which is dominated by domestic search engines. One of the domestic search engines, Daum, already runs a popular service comparable to Street View.
The Associated Press reported from Berlin reported that Google would introduce the Street View service in Germany before the end of the year.
Street View will be available for the Germanys 20 biggest cities. By next week people can start asking to have the photo of their house removed from the database a move aimed at dismissing fears on invasion of privacy.
Although Street View provides photographs of neighborhoods taken by Google cameras, faces and license plates will be blurred.