Bipartisan Duo Wants FCC to Go After Google

Usually Democrats are seen as allied with search-engine giant Google. But now a Democratic and a Republican congressman want the Federal Communications Commission to look at whether Google’s “Street View” feature has violated privacy rights, The Hill reports.

Reps. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., and John Barrow, D-Ga., say the FCC should investigate an incident last year concerning cars that photograph Street View images for Google Maps. The duo made their request in a letter sent to the FCC on Wednesday. 

Last year Google acknowledged that people in cars taking photos for Street View also downloaded unsecured data from private Wi-Fi networks, including e-mails and passwords.

"Google has played an enormous role in advancing the Internet as we know it today, but Americans have a right to know the relevant facts of its Wi-Fi data collection activity, regardless of whether the FCC finds a technical violation of the law," Rogers said.