Google has been fined $25,000 for impeding a US investigation into its collection of wireless network data for its Street View project, which allows users to see street level images when they map a location.

The Federal Communications Commission imposed the fine late on Friday, saying Google had collected personal information without permission and had then deliberately not co-operated with the FCC’s investigation.

The company collected the data between 2007 and 2010, when a car driving around various locations in the US and, later, Europe, took photos of locations from public places – but also collected information from unprotected Wi-Fi networks, including the location, name and in some cases the content including emails.

The FCC’s investigation was left unresolved, according to the New York Times, because one key participant – the Google engineer in charge of the project – cited Fifth Amendement rights and declined to talk to it. The US constitution’s Fifth Amendment protects the right to silence of someone accused by the government of a crime.