Summary Box: Google tells lawmakers it didn’t use accidentally collected Wi-Fi data

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Summary Box: Google says it didn’t use Wi-Fi data

WHAT HAPPENED: Google Inc. inadvertently sucked up fragments of e-mails, search requests and other online data over public Wi-Fi networks in more than 30 countries while photographing neighborhoods for its “Street View” mapping feature.

WHAT GOOGLE IS TELLING CONGRESS: In a letter to House members, the company says that any personal information that it collected was “not used to identify any specific individual or household” and that “the payload data has never been used in any Google product or service.”

LAWMAKERS’ RESPONSE: Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, calls the company’s explanations “deeply troubling.”