THE Australian Federal Police will not pursue Google despite finding the internet giant could have breached local laws when it snooped on WiFi networks.
Google admitted its Street View cars inadvertently captured private information transmitted over insecure wireless networks, a breach Communications Minister Stephen Conroy described as possibly the "largest privacy breach in history across Western democracies''.
The AFP has been investigating the matter for several months since federal Attorney-General Robert McClelland referred the case to authorities in June.
Last week the AFP finally concluded the probe, saying that pursuing the matter would not be an "efficient and effective use" of its resources due to problems gathering evidence to bolster its case.
It found that there was little chance of a successful criminal prosecution against the online search and advertising giant.
"Evidence exists to suggest that the potential breach of the Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act 1979 by Google was inadvertent," an AFP statement says.
"Coupled with the difficulty of gathering sufficient evidence for an examination of potential breaches, the AFP has concluded it would not be an efficient and effective use of resources to pursue this matter any further.
"The likelihood of a successful criminal prosecution in this matter is considered to be low."
The AFP said it was satisfied with the undertakings Google had given to Australia's Privacy Commissioner -- that included an apology posted on Google's blog in July.
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