37 US states join probe into Google Wi-Fi data collection

Connecticut Atty. Gen. Richard Blumenthal, who has been leading the month-old investigation, sent a third letter to Google on Wednesday asking, among other things, whether it had tested the feature's software before putting it to use. Doing so, he said, should have uncovered any glitches responsible for the unwarranted collection of e-mails, passwords and other personal data of those who failed to protect their networks with passwords.

"Google’s responses continue to generate more questions than they answer," he said in a statement. "Now the question is how it may have used -- and secured -- all this private information."

Blumenthal, who is running for Sen. Christopher J. Dodd's seat, also said that attorneys general from 37 states and the District of Columbia have officially joined the probe, including those from Texas, Florida, Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri and Massachusetts. Eight states would not be identified because their laws bar them from disclosing investigations, he said.

The office of California Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown has not yet responded to a question about whether the state is a participant.

"As we've said before, it was a mistake for us to include code in our software that collected payload data, but we believe we did nothing illegal," a spokesperson for Mountain View, Calif.-based Google said in a statement. "We're continuing to work with the relevant authorities to answer their questions and concerns."