Seoul Police Conduct Another Offline Google Search

Police raids at Google’s South Korean headquarters are becoming a regular occurrence.

This morning, agents from Seoul’s Metropolitan Police Agency (SMPA) descended on Google’s Yeoksam-dong offices as part of an investigation into whether the company has been illegally collecting consumer location data through its mobile ad platform.

“The raid was carried out to confirm the allegations that Google’s AdMob platform was used to collect data on individuals’ locations,” an SMPA official told The Korea Times.

This is the second time Google’s Seoul offices have been raided on suspicion of privacy violations in the past year. Last August the SMPA seized dozens of hard drives and documents related to the company’s Street View service, which was later determined to have violated South Korea’s law protecting telecommunications privacy.

[Image credit: Flickr/toughkidcst]