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What happens to companies when they get too big for their own good? Do they inadvertently do things that potentially harm our privacy (think Facebook)? Or, do they simply make mistakes that violate our privacy? Well, last month Google revealed that its Street View cars "mistakenly" captured content flowing over wireless networks — a potential invasion of privacy.

According to a recent MSNBC article, Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal announced that his office will lead a multistate investigation into Google Street View cars' unauthorized collection of personal data, and seeks additional information about the practice in Connecticut. On Friday, Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley announced her office will be seeking information from Google to ensure that Street View is not acquiring personal information. And the House Judiciary Committee has already asked Google and Facebook to cooperate with any government inquiries into privacy practices at both companies.

In many ways, this seems like an error that according to the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) should never have happened in the first place — Google is too big and "sophisticated" for something like this to happen. Either way, Google will surely be arming itself with more lawyers and lobbyists to deal with this investigation.

Cross posted from ITAC blog.

By Matt Langan, Founder, L&R;Communications. Visit the blog maintained by Matt Langan here.

Related topics: Data Center, Law, Policy & Regulation, Privacy