Google data leak reveals a list of past privacy mishaps like recording children's voices, exposing user addresses and more

A recent Google data leak related to privacy and security issues of the company was spotted online by 404 Media Leak Google. The report reveals that this data details past incidents at Google from a period of 2013 to 2018 raising concerns about Google’s data collection practices. These documents include instances where Google’s privacy guardrails have failed.

Some of these listed instances include a blurring mishap on YouTube that exposed the uncensored versions of images and a Waze Carpool incident that revealed the home addresses of the users. One incident reveals Google speech service recorded voices of 1,000 children for about an hour. Another security issue listed revealed that Google’s Street View saved license plates due to an algorithm that detected text in images, reported 404 Media.

As per the report, a Google spokesperson has revealed that these issues were reported by the company employees six to nine years ago. However, he added that all these incidents have now been resolved which means any private information has been deleted. He stated some of these instances were not incidents at all or involved issues from third-party platforms. Google revealed that some of them were internal security team simulations aimed at enhancing product protections or false alarms on product bugs.

In addition to this data leak, Google recently acknowledged that in a data leak that included 2,500 internal documents detailing the data it collects ended up online. The documents created ripples in the SEO and publishing industries, as they could reveal the search data that Google uses to rank pages and websites. It contained information about the company's search ranking algorithm.

A Google spokesperson, cited by The Verge, warned readers of the documents against making assumptions based on out-of-context information. The spokesperson said, "We would caution against making inaccurate assumptions about Search based on out-of-context, outdated, or incomplete information. We’ve shared extensive information about how Search works and the types of factors that our systems weigh, while also working to protect the integrity of our results from manipulation."

Also Read: 

‘Limited access, insufficient funding...’: Engineer who helped build Chandrayaan-3 reveals why ISRO isn't self-sufficient

Sundar Pichai led Google lays off over 100 employees across cloud unit: Report