Google may be facing criminal charges as the New Zealand Privacy Commission has decided to let its police force decide if Google should be charged for a crime because of its IT security gaffe.

In May, the internet company inadvertently collected private information from unsecured Wi-Fi networks as it took pictures with its Street View cars. Admitting to the mistake, Google has revealed that quite a few countries now have some of their data in the Google bank, a worrying occurrence. Google is facing investigations from authorities in countries such as the UK, Italy, Spain, New Zealand and Australia.