Australian authorities started a probe to look into possible breaches of telecommunications privacy laws by internet giant Google by accessing private information of home owners while mapping suburban streets, the Attorney-General said here today.

Robert McClelland said the Australian Federal Police (AFP) would examine whether Google's access of the information had breached the Telecommunications Interception Act, which prohibits the access of electronic communications other than for authorised purposes.

Under the act, serious offences are punishable by three years' jail.

"There have been some complaints voiced.....by the public in respect to practices that have been reported involving allegations that some information may have been obtained by staff of Google travelling around the streets," McClelland said.

"Obviously these things require investigation....but on Friday the Attorney-General's Department did refer those allegations and those reports to the Australian Federal Police for further investigation," he was quoted as saying by The Australian newspaper.

The government has briefed the Australian Federal Police in relation to the investigation, becoming the second case where Google's alleged breach of privacy has been referred to police.

The Australian investigation comes amid growing number of complaints by global regulators and consumers watchdogs that Google doesn't take people's privacy seriously enough.

In Germany, where operators of Google's Street View cars were discovered accessing private information, the case against Google is in the hands of prosecutors.

The government's hardline response follows a clash with Google and other search engines over its plans to introduce internet filters blocking child pornography and other material banned from broadcast and publication, the report in Australian daily said.

It also comes amid a powerful backlash by Western governments against Google, which admitted "We screwed up" by allowing what it says was an inadvertent breach of privacy.

Last month, Google acknowledged it had mistakenly collected fragments of data over public Wi-Fi networks in more than 30 countries while it was taking pictures of neighborhoods for the Street View feature.