In a Sunday announcement, the Australian authorities said that they are initiating an investigation into whether Internet search biggie Google had violated Australia's data security laws by illegally downloading information from wireless networks for its Street View mapping service.

The mapping service supposedly collects images by driving through neighborhoods in a truck with cameras and other equipment for locating wireless data hubs.

Australia's recent announcement about examining the legal issues associated with Google's Street View mapping service comes amid concerns that the company had unlawfully collected private information from wireless networks in over 30 countries - a fact that Google has acknowledged.

With an inquiry already underway by the German regulators, Google, admitting that it had "mistakenly" collected the data, said in a statement on the Australian case: "We are talking to the appropriate authorities to answer any questions they have."

Meanwhile, Attorney-General Robert McLelland said in Melbourne that the decision to initiate police probe largely resulted from the fact that there were "issues of substance," raised by the public, against Google's "mistakenly collected" data. The Australian communications minister, Stephen Conroy, had also last month termed Google's illegal data collection as the "single greatest breach in the history of privacy."

McLelland said that the key focus of the investigations will be whether Google had breached Australia's Telecommunications Interceptions Act, which prohibits gaining access to electronic communications for unauthorized purposes.