Illinois joins multistate settlement with Google

CHICAGO (AP) — Illinois will receive about $362,000 from a multistate settlement with Google over its collection of emails, passwords and other sensitive information transmitted on unprotected wireless networks.

Attorney General Lisa Madigan announced Tuesday that Illinois has joined 37 other states and the District of Columbia in the $7 million settlement.

Google stopped collecting the data in May 2010, shortly before it revealed that cars taking street-level photos for its online mapping service also had been grabbing information transmitted over Wi-Fi networks set up in homes and businesses.

Under the agreement, Google also has agreed to destroy the personal data it collected. Google didn't acknowledge any wrongdoing in the settlement.