Google faces legal threat

A German regulator has threatened legal action against Google over the search giant's collection of private data from unsecured home wireless networks, writes The New York Times.

The data protection supervisor in Hamburg, Johannes Caspar, has given Google until 26 May to hand over one of the hard drives the search giant used to collect and store information in Germany.

Google admitted last week that it stored snippets of Web sites and personal e-mail messages from people while compiling its Street View photo archive.

The popular yet highly controversial BitTorrent search engine, The Pirate Bay, has stood defiantly against the RIAA again, states CNET News.

The site had been temporarily shut down after German authorities ordered its then-Internet host to cease providing Web access to the site.

The Pirate Bay is now being hosted by the Swedish Pirate Party.

A legal expert at Sheffield University has said Britons could face legal action for leaving WiFi connections unsecured, writes PC Pro.

The warning comes after a German case where a broadband subscriber was fined when his unsecured wireless network was used to download music illegally.

“The German case is an illustration of what could happen here, so it's a bit of a salutary warning,” says Lilian Edwards, professor of Internet law at the University of Sheffield.