Congressman have petitioned the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to urge the watchdog to investigate internet giant Google after concerns about privacy issues were raised with the advent of Google Wave.

Google Wave was highly criticised for allowing and indeed, encouraging, too much personal information to be made available to the public, such as family information. It was also criticised for the way Google scrutinised the habits of Gmail account holders in order to predict which accounts would interest users.

The Congressmen reportedly stated in the letter to the FTC, ‘Without a doubt this technology has made us all more productive, but it has also made it easier for others to invade our personal privacy, and reveal information about us and our families that we choose not to disclose.’ Truer words were never spoken.