“CNIL launched an investigation last month into Google’s recording of traffic carried over unencrypted Wi-Fi networks, and has begun examining the data Google handed over as part of that investigation,” Sayer reports. “Google revealed on May 14 that the fleet of vehicles it operates to compile panoramic images of city streets for its Google Maps site had inadvertently recorded traffic from unencrypted Wi-Fi networks. Google’s intention was only to record the identity and position of Wi-Fi hotspots in order to power a location service it operates, the company said. However, the software it used to record that information went much further, intercepting and storing data packets too.”
Sayer reports, “At the time, Google said it only collected “fragments” of personal Web traffic as it passed by, because its Wi-Fi equipment automatically changes channels five times a second. However, with Wi-Fi networks operating at up to 54M bits per second, it always seemed likely that those one-fifth of a second recordings would contain more than just ‘fragments’ of personal data.”
Full article here.
Erik Von Schmidt, you are a third Reich bastard – and You Vant the Vorld to Trust you?
Bad Google! Bad Google!
People, if Google can do this, so can anyone. Even Big Brother.
And yet the fandroids think Steve is evil but this is ok.
Unbelievable, how do you “accidentally” steal someone’s data. I bet that if I “accidentally” hack Google’s servers and still people’s data, the FBI will be knocking on the door. There’s no reason to collect any data while they captured the street view.
steal not still…… I wish we had an edit button 🙁
If you rearrange Google’s catch phrase “Don’t Be Evil”, you end up with “I am Lord Voldemort”. It’s horribly misspelled however.
An act of hubris by a company that has grown too much…
But guys it’s all FREEEEEEE!
You gan drust Mr. Smithers, but must hate Jobs, must hate Jobs, must hate Apple…. must hate…
Sounds evil to me…
That`s just the tip of the iceberg…
http://precursorblog.com/
Google=Gulag
you gotta be sh*tting me? Google has to take some serious heat for this!
@ Jersey_Trader:
Google _is_ Big Brother.
Facebook is Little Brother.
Evil!
I do not get why people love and trust google.
They have all your search info, they want all your web viewing data(chrome), they want all your email data(gmail), they want all your phone use/location data(android) and all your tv viewing data.
Now, they are driving around taking what you won’t give them.
They are scary.
People…
Be real here.
Google was not hacking into anything. These were packets picked up from OPEN, UNENCRYPTED WiFi systems. Anyone stupid enough to have there systems unprotected like that has absolutely no right to complain that their information was recorded by Google.
It’s no different than if you take the front door off your house. You have no right to complain that someone walks in, sits down and starts watching TV on your set.
Mac news how?
<Flame Suit>
Ok maybe I am missing something here but if a person is broadcasting this info with NO security isn’t it kind of their own fault? Did Goog have special/illegal hardware/software?
Let me put it this way, if I write my SSN and my bank acct # and tape them to my window and Target walks by and copies the info, is it Targets fault or mine?
</Flame Suit>
I’m not trying to be a wise a$$ or start a flame war, just curious as to why in this instance Goog did wrong by gathering info that was floating around?
@G
If someone leaves their front door unlocked it doesn’t give someone the right to walk in and take whatever they want.
If you do not want people to access or record your personal data, then do not broadcast it unencrypted over Wi-Fi (or any other radio frequency). They did not “steal” anything in my opinion (although that might not be true in legal terms), they just collected information that people were streaming into the ether. The primary concern should be public education, because many of these people are likely unaware that their wireless networks are unlocked, much less the implications.
Anyone with a Wi-Fi receiver can do the same darn thing. And if they are willing to sit around for a while to collect a sufficient number of packets, they can probably crack the encryption for most consumer wireless networks using available tools.
I have not seen any evidence that Google was parsing the Wi-Fi data searching for personal data, and I have no reason to believe that was/is the case. From Google’s perspective, they *were* only collecting fragments of data, and that data was extraneous to their actual purpose of creating a Wi-Fi location database.
Please don’t go overboard on Google like a pack of lemmings. As the saying goes, news is neither as good nor as bad as it first appears. Or, as they say in scuba training, breathe slowly, deeply, and continuously.
@Macromancer
Very good point but Goog didn’t B&E;it just drove past and looked at trash that people left sitting at the curb.
Now if Goog had special hardware/software that cracked security (locked door) that would be different.
Would you be angry at the garbage collector if they happen to notice that you like (insert your product here) because when they took the lid off of your rubbish can they saw the box it came in?
BTW Like most I am really starting to despise Goog but in this case *maybe* they aren’t the bad guys
@ HMCIV
Lol! That was very good. Nice Riddle.
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Oops! I accidentally switched to Bing!
@ChrissyOne
Very funny C1. Thanks for the laugh.
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I wonder if Google supplies info to any U.S. Government agencies.
In Canada, someone was arrested, tried and convicted of theft for sitting in the car in front of someone’s house and surfing on their unencrypted WiFi.
So, it is stealing.