What Google did not mean to search

Google sent its camera vans all over the country - we are all very familiar with the pictures. But the vans also collected personal data.

This happened inadvertently - the firm said it never intended to do this. The data collected came from people's WiFi connections.

Looking at the reports, officials described the data as "fragments of content - not including meaningful personal data that could be linked to identifiable individuals".

It's my understanding that this refers to data collected prior to May 2010.

This enforcement notice places a legal requirement on Google to delete the remaining data within 35 days.

This is data that Google found it had on discs back in July last year - they said it has never been accessed or made public.

The Information Commissioner said it was wrong to collect the personal data - but that it did not cause personal detriment.

A Google spokesman said:

One clear lesson for us all is to secure our WiFi connections - so nobody can access them.