Google to Congress: We're 'profoundly sorry' about WiFi-gate

Trying to head off mounting criticism in Congress, Google told key House lawmakers last week it is "profoundly sorry" it collected data from WiFi networks and added that it never used any of the information.

Google has said it accidentally collected so-called payload data from unencrypted WiFi networks while photographing neighborhoods for its Street View mapping program.

"The payload data has never been used in any Google product or service, nor do we intend to use it," Pablo Chavez, Google's director of public policy, wrote in a letter on Wednesday to House Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman and ranking member Joe Barton, as well as Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass.

"In fact, based on our current investigation, we are aware of only two instances when any Google engineer even viewed the payload data," the letter added.

"As soon as we became aware of this problem, we grounded our Street View cars and segregated the payload data on our network," the letter stated. "We then removed the data from the Google network so that it is inaccessible to anyone other than those responsible for securing the data, and we continue to take steps to safeguard payload data."

But Google said it has not been able to determine the number of WiFi networks for which data had been collected.