Google petitioned the Supreme Court in late...

Google petitioned the Supreme Court in late March to rule on whether the U.S. District Court in San Francisco “erred in holding that ‘radio communications’ under the Wiretap Act are restricted to ‘predominantly auditory broadcasts’ and do not include Wi-Fi communications even though Wi-Fi communications are transmitted using radio waves (http://bit.ly/1gOObX4). The petition results from ongoing lawsuits against Google over the company gathering data from unencrypted Wi-Fi networks as part of its Street View program, known as the “Wi-Spy” case. Google paid $7 million in a March 2013 settlement with dozens of states over the issue (http://1.usa.gov/ZjOI7I), and in September the U.S. District Court in San Francisco ruled against Google in several merged class-action lawsuits, the petition said. But the Justice Department and FCC have cleared Google in the matter, said the petition. Google did not comment beyond the text of the petition.