Comments on: Google outside your gaff, taking pics while logging your WiFi traffic

By: Donal

Donal — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 09:41:38 +0000

it gets even better
Programmers who use google gears can use the wifi location data (in combination with other stuff such as IP address and 3G towers if available) to pinpoint your location scarily close

there was a demo that some guy had put online but it has since been taken down…

By: Richie

Richie — Mon, 31 May 2010 16:42:16 +0000

About your reply A about G making billions from their products – the reality is that G really earns all it’s revenues from advertising. Pretty much all of their cool stuff is loss making. This is Gs *BIG* problem, which drives their aggression in products and data aggregation.

But yeah, the “Don’t be evil” is just pr dross, like every other shareholder beholden company, they are all about the money, and Page and Brin have always been totally focused on that.

By: Damien Mulley

Damien Mulley — Sun, 30 May 2010 23:23:41 +0000

They’re not going beyond their responsibilities/duty by deleting the stolen data, it’s the law that they have to adhere too. The same one they broke. Going beyond their responsibilities would see them delete all the WiFi network information.

re: A
Allowing Google to trample on rights of people because they’ve made good products and made billions from them is besides the point and lets sentimentality override privacy invasions.

re: B
Having the ability to be found by the public and being in the public domain are entirely different. Google is pushing information into the public domain, without permission. What underwear I wear could be found out by peering into my back garden and seeing what’s on the washing line. Claiming that my washing is public domain isn’t true unless I’m hanging it out in a public square. They’ve tried the same stunt with their book scanning while claiming it was for the public good when it’s for shareholder gain in reality.

By: Daragh Mc Grath

Daragh Mc Grath — Sun, 30 May 2010 22:49:01 +0000

Google have put their hands up and gone beyond their duty in disclosing this fact and in putting measures in place to ensure that the data is securely destroyed.

There is no denying that this is a major stuff up and bad PR, however, two major points:

A) it was code that should never have been there in the first place that caused this issue. This in itself is wrong, but occasionally, shit happens. For a company such as Google who produce billions of lines of code and which a huge number of people globally use and are better for every day, having something such as this is inevitable. However, they have learned from their mistakes and have put measures in place to ensure as best as possible that this never occurs again.

B) the information that they have been collecting is all being transmitted across unsecured wifi networks. It is therefore in the public domain and available to anyone with a laptop and a little knowledge to collect for their own means. Google have admitted to mistakingly collecting this and will now go beyond their responsibilities to securely delete this information. Hopefully, some good can come of this due to the publicity that’s being generated. People should now be aware that this information is being transmitted unsecured and may start to ask questions and make some noises about trying to secure their own home networks which is only a good thing.

By: Keith

Keith — Sun, 30 May 2010 22:23:45 +0000

I had an open WiFi network myself for a while. After noticing it I found it dificult to set it up again, when I couldn’t find the relevant disk to install a password. There are many people out there like myself that don’t have a technical background for something as simple a this. I wonder if our online banking details are in these databases??

By: aidanf

aidanf — Sun, 30 May 2010 21:48:31 +0000

Anyone who has a an open wifi network is basically broadcasting all traffic that passes over it in full public view.

If you don’t want your wifi traffic to be publicly available to anyone within range then you should secure your network.

By: Francis Mahon

Francis Mahon — Sun, 30 May 2010 20:42:25 +0000

Unless I am mistaken, logging on to someone else’s WiFi network without permission is a criminal offence in the United Kingdom? That could open a whole can of worms!

I don’t look at scanning wireless networks as a privacy issue. If your data is so sensitive, use appropriate encryption and security on your WiFi, or better yet, stick to the wired alternative!

Unencrypted WiFi traffic is basically a ‘broadcast’, and Google are receiving it in a public place. Every PERSON needs to take responsibility for their own privacy – having an open WiFi network is analogous to throwing your bank statements in to the trash without shredding/burning them…