Google leak reveals past privacy issues

A leaked internal Google database has uncovered thousands of privacy problems that happened between 2013 and 2018, according to a report from 404 Media.

The leak, shared by an anonymous source, shows instances where Google's privacy measures failed, leading to the exposure of sensitive information such as user addresses in Waze and recording children's voices.

The incidents were flagged by employees and reviewed by Google. Some of the problems included a YouTube mishap that exposed uncensored images and a Waze Carpool incident that shared users' home addresses. In one case, a Google speech service recorded audio of about 1,000 children for an hour. Another issue involved Google's Street View saving license plates due to an error in their system.

Google said that all these issues have been resolved, and any private information has been deleted. Some of the reported problems were actually internal security tests or issues with third-party platforms, not direct privacy breaches by Google.

This is the second internal leak in a week, following the release of 2,500 documents on May 27. This new leak further damages Google's reputation, especially after recent problems with inaccurate AI responses.