A lawsuit that was filed against Google in Spain two months ago is starting to pay off – at least for the organization that filed it.  Now Google’s been called before a judge due to the way in which Street View cars collected sensitive WiFi data while taking pictures.

Obviously, this isn’t good news for Google.  Aside from the fact that the case is still active at all, the speed at which things are moving forward is a little disconcerting.

Raphael Minder explained in a report this morning, "The judge, Raquel Fernandino, has ordered a representative from Google to appear before her in early October over a lawsuit filed by a Spanish association of Internet users.  The summons was issued last month but made public only this week."

Minder also wrote, "The judge’s investigation is the most serious threat to date in Spain for Google and its mapping service.  But Street View had already raised concerns among local regulators.  In June, Artemi Rallo, director of the Spanish data protection agency, Agencia Espanola de Proteccion de Datos, said in an interview that Google should hand over the original hard drives containing the actual Wi-Fi payload data . . ."

Maybe Google’s meeting with the judge will let it resolve all this sooner rather than later, anyway.

Some of the company’s best lawyers are no doubt planning to either travel to Spain or at least coordinate with local colleagues ahead of the hearing.