Chalk up a much needed win for Google. Late last week, the Federal Trade Commission ruled that because Google has made improvements to its internal privacy practices,  it won’t face any fines over Wi-Fi data collection from its Street View vehicles.

According to an assumed programming error, Google said last May that its Street View cars had intercepted fragments of data from unencrypted Wi-Fi networks. An investigation by the Canadian government showed that Google collected about 12 Blu-ray discs’ worth of Wi-Fi transmissions, when a Google engineer failed to follow company procedures by not sending design specifications for Street View code to the company’s legal department for review.  Google acknowledged that it collected bits of private data including e-mail messages and passwords, but was quick to claim the data has never been misused.

Google CEO Eric Schmidt has long bragged that the company’s “policy is to get right up to the creepy line and not cross it.” But Schmidt’s actions over the past year question the validity of his own words.  In the past year alone, Schmidt has:

• Claimed people want Google to “tell them what they should be doing next.”

• Said of Google, “We know where you are. We know where you’ve been. We can more or less know what you’re thinking about.”

• Suggested name changes to protect adults from the Web’s record of their youthful indiscretions.

• Addressed criticisms of Google’s stance on privacy by saying, “If you have something that you don’t want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn’t be doing it in the first place.”

• Said that if people don’t like Google’s Street View cars taking pictures of their homes and businesses, they “can just move” afterward to protect their privacy.

In light of the recent ruling, Google says it has no plans to resume using its Street View cars to collect information about the locations of Wi-Fi networks.