Appeals Court: Wiretap Act Class Action Against Google Can Continue

An appeals court turned down Google’s argument that data collected from unencrypted Wi-Fi networks during Street View drives was protected under an exception to the federal Wiretap Act. A class-action lawsuit was filed against Google by the individuals whose data was collected, which included the network’s name, the router’s MAC address, and, for unencrypted networks, emails, usernames, passwords, videos and documents. Google sought to dismiss, saying Wi-Fi was an electronic transmission readily accessible to the public, but that argument was rejected by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, keeping the class action suit alive.