Indian Police have launched an investigation into Google’s Mapathon 2013 mapping contest, which was held during February-March 2013 after Survey of India raised security concerns.
The probe, over possible security breach and violation of Indian cyber laws, marks the latest in a series of battles between several governments and Google over privacy and security issues involving its mapping products.
Survey of India said that the mapping activity is likely to jeopardise national security interest and violates the National Map Policy.
"Citizens of the country, who are ignorant of the legal consequences, are likely to violate the law of the land," the country’s national survey and mapping agency said.
However, Google said the contest was meant to make more local information accessible to all and that it did not violate any laws.
Google spokeswoman Paroma Roy Chowdhury said that the company is open to discussion on specific concerns over the issue with public authorities in India.
"Google takes security and national regulations very seriously, and the Mapathon adhered to applicable laws," Chowdhury said.
In March 2013, the search major had agreed to pay about $7m in the US to resolve an investigation over its Street View service that collected passwords and other personal data from home Wi-Fi networks during 2008-2010.
In 2011, India’s Bangalore police ordered Google to shelve a Street View service over security concerns, three weeks upon the company’s move to collect images from the city.
