Why do all these big players in the internet world take our privacy issues so lightly?

Not too long ago a glitch in Facebook and Twitter raised many questions about these sites being safe enough for protecting their user's privacy. Surprisingly, Google seems to be following the trend and admitted that they 'mistakenly' collected personal data from unsecured Wi-Fi networks in more than 30 countries.

Google has a 'Street View' feature in its 'Maps' segment, for which their Mobile Team sent high-tech cars all over the world; these cars were suppose to collect Wi-Fi network names and addresses only, which helps users to find restaurants and get directions. But for past 3 years these cars have been 'unknowingly' collecting personal data from wireless networks that are not password protected. However, Google reassures that none of this information has appeared in its search engine or other services.

Thanks to Data Protection Authority from Germany, who audited the Wi-Fi data that Google's Street View cars had collected, during the audit they discovered this loophole in Google's system.

So how does Google react to it? Well, they simply apologize and promise to delete all this data as soon as possible. The Street View cars have been put on hold, while engineers all over the globe are working towards deleting about 600 gigabytes of data.

Mr. Alan Eustace, Google's Senior VP Engineering and Research recently stated that, "The engineering team at Google works hard to earn your trust-and we are acutely aware that we have failed badly here. We are profoundly sorry for this error and are determined to learn all lessons that we can from our mistake"

Well, apology accepted. Now who's next?