In a Tuesday announcement, Internet search giant Google said that it has worked out an agreement with 37 US states and the District of Columbia, to pay them a $7 million penalty for settling complaints about the company's unauthorized collection of personal data transmitted over Wi-Fi networks.

The settlement will bring to an end a multi-state probe into a snoopy software program which gave Google the ability to intercept emails, passwords and other sensitive data that users had sent many years ago over unprotected wireless networks in neighborhoods all over the world.

Under the agreement, the $7 million fine will be paid to 37 states and the District of Columbia, which had initiated an investigation after Google acknowledged that users' personal data had inadvertently been collected by its Street View cars between 2008 and 2010.

Google will also, as a part of the settlement of Wi-Fi privacy investigation, destroy users' sensitive information collected by its Street View cars which, along with clicking pictures of the surroundings, were supposedly collecting data about the location of Wi-Fi access points for helping with the company's navigation services.

However, noting that its settlement of the multi-state investigation does not any admission of wrongdoing, Google said in its Tuesday statement: "We work hard to get privacy right at Google. But in this case we didn't, which is why we quickly tightened up our systems to address the issue."