A car used by Google to collect data for its Street View mapping service was stopped and searched by privacy regulators on Wednesday near Paris.

The inspection was a result of Google's decision to photograph French streets before officials had decided whether the company complied with orders to limit Street View's data collection.

The search "was done especially to verify that they stopped collecting wi-fi data", said Yann Padova, secretary general of the National Commission for Computing and Civil Liberties.

Google said the searched had been arranged prior to the event. The world's largest online search engine is being probed by data protection regulators in Germany, Italy, Spain and the Czech Republic over concerns that their Street View program violates privacy rights. Earlier this month, South Korean police raided Google's office in Seoul as part of a Street View investigation.

Google Street View lets users click on maps to see photographs of roadsides and is already available for most major cities in France.

The French regulators, Commission nationale de l'informatique et des libertés (CNIL) has received complaints since the program began. Initially it was over the lack of digital masking to cover up people's faces. Google later resolved that problem.

Later, officials learned that Street View cars were collecting wireless data - including emails and passwords, without people's knowledge. CNIL issued an injunction in May, demanding that Google stop and surrender the data.

CNIL can fine companies as much as €300,000 (£245,000), and €150,000 for first-time offenders.