UK Regulator Did Not Check Google Privacy Claims 56
judgecorp writes "When Google gathered personal Wi-Fi data through its Street View cars, the UK privacy watchdog, the ICO did not press charges, saying that Google had "contained" the data in "quarantined cages". It has now been revealed that the ICO never checked this assertion. It just took Google's word for it, and never visited Google to try and check on whether the data actually was contained. From TechWeekEurope's correspondence with the ICO it seems that the regulator had a team of three looking into the Google Wi-Fi data scandal. Seeing that it was impossible to check Google's claims in depth, the ICO decided to just take Google's word it had done what it claimed."
The ICO have a point... (Score:4, Insightful)
"Seeing that it was impossible to check Google's claims in depth, the ICO decided to just take Google's word it had done what it claimed."
Well, yeh. It only take a memory stick full of WIFI data to be stuck in the back of a draw, or in someone's pocket. What's the ICO gonna do? Strip search all employees?
Googles word for it, is the best they can do.
I doubt you understood what that did (Score:2, Insightful)
Did you understand what that change of privacy actually did?
You visit a site, it has Doubleclick on it, Google sets a tracking cookie and profiles your browser, and notes the IP. Maybe it has use Google analytics, so analytics does the same. Maybe you visit a Google Gmail account, so Gmail does the same, maybe you use Maps with 'maps can access my position' on and Maps does the same plus it gets your GPS location . Maybe you use an Android device with the Google pack, lots of lovely data on you heads off the Google. Youtube? Recording everything you do.
You have maps permission to have your location, so you gave Doubleclick the same, Youtube the same.
By 'simplifying' the privacy policy, they actually gave themselves permission to link all that data together. So you might visit Youtube and it has double click and both profiles are generated, then you visit another site that has only analytics, but you've been profiled and that data is in the bundle.
Where you are, who you email, when you go places, what you search for, what videos you watched.
I find their privacy control panel to be downright misleading. It contains only the data you gave, not the data derived for your interactions with Google. They might pretend they can't identify you, but that's simply disingenuous.
You visit gmail, and it has your Google account, adsense sets a cookies, you visit slashdot and adsense can grab that cookies. Yet they don't report 'you read Slashdot article about UK regulator'! They have it, they tracked it, yet they don't quote it as information they have on you. Even with cookies blocked, the browser profile is more than enough to track you.
Google really are the Obama of search. It's the same oppressive lying s**t as Bush, only with a smiley face and more apologies. More apologies, more promises, but ultimately the nastiest data mining machine on the Internet.
(Well, except for the NSA, but that goes without saying. 800,000 people tracked, means a few thousand slashdot readers are one the list so watch what you say)