Brazil demands explanation over data collected by Google`s Street View cars

London: Brazil has reportedly sought answers from search giant Google over its alleged Street View cars collecting private wi-fi data while photographing for its maps.

A court has ordered the firm to present a reply this week or face a fine of about 45,000 dollars a day, up to a maximum of 450,000 dollars. According to the BBC, the US and European courts have already fined Google for illegally harvesting data through the Street View programme and the search giant has said that it has removed the data collection facility from the vehicles. The complaint against Google in Brazil was lodged by the Brazilian Institute of Computer Policy and Rights. The report said that the Street View project cars, which take 360-degree photos of streets and houses, and post them as online maps have photographed Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Belo Horizonte and other major Brazilian cities. The US fined Google 7million dollars, earlier this year, for collecting people`s personal data without authorisation in the nation and the search giant agreed to destroy emails, passwords, and web histories collected by Street View cars between 2008 and 2010. The report added that Germany has also fined Google 145,000 euros for illegally recording information.