Data captured by Google Street View includes passwords and emails

Google confirmed last month that while snapping photos of the local flavor, the search giant was also inadvertently capturing packets of data from unsecured routers. Google downplayed the severity of this guffaw by reassuring people that only small, presumably useless, fragments of personal data were collected. Despite Google’s re-assurance, this admission caused a stir amongst privacy groups and prompted several agencies to take a closer look at the data that Google collected. The French National Commission on Computing and Liberty (CNIL) was one such group and the first to officially get its hand on the stored data. CNIL announced the results of its investigation on Friday and revealed that the captured fragments included email passwords and extracted portions of email messages. Bad news for Google as this revelation is the perfect ammunition for groups already upset with Google and its management of a vast treasure trove of personal data.

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