Google Tells Congress It Disclosed Wi-Fi Sniffing

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."

Re:W3C=Google Here?

[yyxx]

No, because writing the spec doesn't affect anybody's privacy, implementing it does. The fact that Apple and others are implementing the spec tells you that there is broad agreement that this is useful.

Besides, this is nothing new: applications, phone companies, and governments have been able to determine your location from your cell phone for years now. The fact that Google does it too now, and that it becomes accessible to web applications, doesn't make the situation significantly different.

need a big sign

[oddTodd123]

If they had a big sign on their street view vans that said "All your data are belong to us", that would be good enough for everyone currently complaining? I doubt it. So why would it be good enough if they post something anywhere on their websites that says the same thing? It's not like people are agreeing to some terms-of-service with Google when they buy their house!

Google vs Cheney-Bush

[tengu1sd]

People are getting upset that someone recorded wireless transmissions? Come on, it's radio, once you broadcast it's there for the whole world to pick up. Encryption can slow down someone reading your traffic, but that's only a speed bump. There is no expectation of privacy on a radio broadcast, if you think your wi-fi network is secure, you're only showing the world that you don't understand the technology.

Compare this to the Bush/Cheney Regime [wikipedia.org] program to record network and phone traffic. Where's the outrage and investigation of King George? The current king has quietly continued this program. I have more trust in Google than I do the the United States government.

One more time, if you broadcast it, it's available for anyone to intercept.