Google Search's massive data leak has revealed multiple security and privacy issues on the platform, including solid links to inside reports on Nintendo's upcoming games since 2017.
According to 404 Media, the leaked document detailed that one of Google's contractors was able to access Nintendo's YouTube account to share with the public days ahead of its scheduled release.
(Photo : Nikolas Kokovlis/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
It is believed that this is the same insider that originally leaked Yoshi's Crafted World to Reddit seven years ago before it was even announced during the 2017 E3 convention.
A new Yoshi game (probably Woolly World 2) is going to be announced for Switch
by innintendo
404 Media claimed that the new set of Google leaks came from an anonymous source, amassing multiple employee internal reports from six years ago.
In response, a Google representative told the digital watchdog that most data in the leak were employee flags from over six years ago and were submitted for "review by the relevant teams."
Google claimed that all issues in the documents obtained had already been "reviewed and resolved at that time."
Google Leaks Shed Light on How Tech Giant Responds to Privacy, Security Issues
While the reported issues have already been resolved, the leaked documents still provide enough insight into the number of security and privacy issues that existed within the tech giant's operations.
According to 404 Media, Google accessed and collected children's voices on YouTube Kids when they accidentally pressed the microphone button due to a failure in the app's filter systems.
Moreover, YouTube was reported to recommend videos that users have already deleted from their watch history, a clear violation of the platform's terms of service.
This is in addition to its Waze carpool feature leaking people's trip and home addresses to employees and other users, potentially putting many people at risk.
Also Read: Google Agrees to Destroy Billions of Data Records to Resolve Privacy Lawsuit
Google Search Leak Reveals More of Tech Giant's Secrets
The leaks came nearly a week after massive Google Search documents were leaked to GitHub, showing how the Google Search algorithm truly works.
SEO experts Michael King and Rand Fishkin claimed that the search engine maker "lied" about the existence of a ranking system on its search results that pushed well-known brands to the top of the list.
King and Fishkin, who had seen the documents before it was deleted, also accused the search giant of collecting people's click activities to determine a site's placement, contrary to Google's earlier denials.
Related Article: Google 'Lied' About its Search Algorithms; Experts Claim Following Massive Data Leak