“A U.S. Senator wants to know whether six big tech companies gather personal data from local wireless, or Wi-Fi, networks, and what they do with the information,” Jennifer Valentino-DeVries reports for The Wall Street Journal.
“Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D – Conn.) made the request in a letter Tuesday to Google Inc., Apple Inc., Microsoft Inc. and three other companies,” Valentino-DeVries reports. “Gathering information from wireless networks ‘raises issues regarding what constitutes a reasonable expectation of privacy’ for people who install networks to share files or tap the Internet, Mr. Blumenthal wrote.”
“Sen. Blumenthal asked the companies to describe what data they get from Wi-Fi networks and how they get it. He also asks them to describe the data and collection methods they have ‘contemplated’ using,” Valentino-DeVries reports. “In addition to Google, Apple and Microsoft, Mr. Blumenthal sent his letter to Nokia Corp., BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd. and Skyhook Wireless Inc., which offers location information based partly on Wi-Fi network data.”
Read more in the full article here.