Google Tells Congress It Disclosed Wi-Fi Sniffing 123
theodp writes "While conceding 'it is clear there should have been greater transparency about the collection of this [Wi-Fi] data,' Google asserted 'we have provided public descriptions of our location-based services' in its written response to Congress (PDF) about whether the public had been adequately informed of its data collection efforts. To prove its point, Google's how-many-times-do-we-have-to-tell-you answer included a link to a blog entry on My Location on the desktop, an odd choice considering that Google is still less-than-clear about exactly what's being captured by the service ('When My Location is active, Toolbar will automatically send local network information (including, but not limited to, visible WiFi access points)'). Congress might also want to evaluate the transparency of this cute Google video, which assured the public of Street View's privacy safeguards, but gave no hint of the controversial Wi-Fi collection."
And? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:They're not evil... (Score:4, Insightful)
Their mode of operation has been to collect all the raw data they could and pass it to the smart guys in the back room to develop applications.
The problem is that this time they did it driving (and cycling) down peoples streets and occasionally in their driveways. From their perspective its a simple misunderstanding and I expect a truce will be agreed on.
Re:And^2 (Score:5, Insightful)
This is not "shady." I operate an open wifi hub myself and I live in town. One neighbor is almost always connected via his iphone. What neighbor? I haven't a clue - that's the whole point of providing anonymous and free bandwidth to my community. I hope that person is using it to save money on their phone bill cuz, as a homeowner, the better off my neighbor is the better off I am.
People are not idiots. When it is called "wifi" and "wireless" and you can network comupters without wires, anyone who understands technology of the last century knows it's using radio. They may choose to remain ignorant to the details, but it's simple common sense that when I am using "radio" others can hear shit I say unless I do something about it. The government and the media powerhouses have done their part in making the public scared enough of this technology that most now attempt to lock them down using wep, again demonstrating that most have a basic understanding of the technology.
Making shit public and then bitching about someone for using the information YOU CHOSE TO MAKE PUBLIC is a synthetic dismissal of responsibility (or...ummmm.. just a lie). The only thing Google is guilty of here is having enough money and resources to gather this data on a larger scale than I and my neighbor are capable of.
One question, though... (Score:3, Insightful)
I have one question, though: exactly how much privacy do people expect, given that what Google collected was what those people were broadcasting in the clear to the world at large? It's the equivalent of Google listening to what people are saying sitting at the corner coffee shop. Face it, when you're talking in public with strangers standing right next to you listening, you don't expect what you say to go unheard. So, why do you expect what you're broadcasting with the moral equivalent of a bullhorn to remain private? You want it private? Either don't broadcast it at all or at least encrypt it before broadcasting it.
Oh, you say the average person doesn't know better? Sorry, they should know better, and if they don't they should know better than to try without getting expert help. No excuses. This isn't rocket science. We've had personal computers for over 30 years. We carry sophisticated ones in our pockets and use them to make phone calls. It's well past high time the average person was expected to have a basic understanding of what they're so casually carrying around and using every day, and past time we stopped making excuses for the ones who just can't be bothered. You shouldn't need to know the details of how encryption works in 802.11*, but you should at least know as much as "I need encryption turned on, and if I don't know where and how to turn it on I need to either RTFM or ask someone who does know for help.".
More important than asking why Google collected this information is asking why people were so negligently reckless as to broadcast anything sensitive in the clear in the first place.
Re:THIS IS NOT A PROBLEM (Score:2, Insightful)
No, it's not good for all concerned.
Here in Australia, Google officials are trying to claim that they didn't know the data was being collected because it was being collected accidentally. Over there they're claiming "we knew, and we told you we were doing it."
Well, which is it?
get over it already (Score:2, Insightful)
I'm tired of Google being painted as the bad guys here. All they did was receive unencrypted, public broadcasts. That should not be illegal. In fact, it probably is not illegal in the US.
If you don't want people to listen to your WiFi packets, encrypt them. Don't abuse the court system or the police to cover up for your own incompetence.
Re:THIS IS NOT A PROBLEM (Score:1, Insightful)
No, it's not good for all concerned.
Here in Australia, Google officials are trying to claim that they didn't know the data was being collected because it was being collected accidentally. Over there they're claiming "we knew, and we told you we were doing it."
Well, which is it?
No, they're claiming that they didn't know it was being collected while it was collected, but when asked to investigate after the fact, they did, found that they had accidentally collected the information, and reported the fact.
Why does /. Keep posting these bad summaries? (Score:3, Insightful)
So Theodp continues his one-man crusade against Google, and Slashdot inexplicably continues to aid him by posting his troll article summaries. This is at least his 3rd one on this particular Google issue alone and there haven't even new developments.
Let's review:
WHEN YOU USE GOOGLE LOCATION SERVICES, THEY KNOW WHERE YOU ARE. Shocking!:
http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=10/06/01/1217220 [slashdot.org]
This one's summary is so ridiculously inaccurate and biased I can't do it justice by summarizing it myself:
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=10/05/29/0818219 [slashdot.org]
The germans wanted to do something, but failed. Lets argue about Google some more:
http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=10/06/04/1839230 [slashdot.org]
Here's some other Google posts he's made that are only slightly less ridiculous:
Google is hacking your box:
http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=10/06/11/0143255 [slashdot.org]
Google Lied about Apps being a successful product:
http://tech.slashdot.org/story/09/09/07/1218227/Google-Apps-Not-the-DC-Success-Many-Believe?from=rss [slashdot.org]
Google is racist:
http://search.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/11/26/0311249 [slashdot.org]
Ok, man, we get it. You think Google is evil and you wear a tinfoil hat to keep them from packet sniffing your brain because they can *totally* do that. Whatever. The rest of us are sick of hearing about it. Most of us here understand the issue better than you apparently do and we aren't nearly as concerned.
It's clear you have a bone to pick, especially with the whole wifi thing which I'm not sure you really understand -- but FFS, why is Slashdot still posting these things? I swear this is the 4th time you've rehashed the whole wifi thing with a slightly different spin and managed to get it posted yet again. Each time you avoid facts in favor of frantic hand-waving and put words in Google's mouth like "how-many-times-do-we-have-to-tell-you" and "After mistakenly saying that it did not collect Wi-Fi payload data". Please, for the love of god. Just stop.