Google Inc. is telling lawmakers that it never dissected or used any of the information that it accidentally sucked up while collecting data about public Wi-Fi networks in more than 30 countries.
In a letter to three key members of the House Commerce Committee, the company apologized for collecting fragments of e-mails, search requests and other online activities over unencrypted Wi-Fi networks while photographing neighborhoods for its "Street View" mapping feature.
Pablo Chavez, Google's director of public policy, wrote in the letter that the "collection of Wi-Fi payload data was a mistake."
Google says it was gathering information about the location of Wi-Fi networks to improve the accuracy of location-based services such as Google Maps.
© Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.