Countries Launch Investigations Into Google Wifi Collecting
Linked by Thom Holwerda on Sat 22nd May 2010 21:18 UTC
Google This issue kind of fell by the wayside in all the WebM and Android violence, but apart from the cool things Google did this past week, they've also done something really bad. They claim it's a mistake, but the company has collected 600GB of data from open personal wireless networks in 33 countries through its Street View cars, prompting several countries to initiate official investigations into the search giant.
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RE: is this a non issue??
by 3rdalbum on Sun 23rd May 2010 02:30 UTC in reply to "is this a non issue??"
3rdalbum
Member since:
2008-05-26

what data? name of wireless network? and geolocation of said network? is that the extent of the data? what else could they collect while driving slowly past it? not much else. so really who cares about this?


They could have any data that was currently being transmitted over the network while it was being scanned, but if Google's telling the truth then there couldn't be much data picked up in that 1/5th of a second. Especially because I'd bet that most/all unsecured wireless networks only carry web surfing data and lie idle 99% of the time.

I'd agree that it's a bit of a non-event, especially since Google has freely admitted what has happened (rather than there being a whistleblower).

Receiving unencrypted radio signals is, most likely, not illegal, as long as you're on public property or your own property. Transmitting data would imply use of someone else's network without their permission, which is probably illegal. But Google only received, did not transmit.

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