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Google was mapping more than streets...

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mbigna

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I thought the mapping of Wi-Fi was to help with positioning - as in GPS but using WiFi locations and relative signal strengths for triangulation? That's my understanding (I believe the iPad implements this with striking accuracy). Now - gathering WEB STATS from open Wi-Fi might be a bit onerous, but I see nothing at all wrong with geo-locating WiFi AP's for the public interest...

:cool:
 
Due to the mistake, Google could have collected information about which websites people were accessing, from online videos they were watching to emails they were sending.
Click to expand...
.
 
burningcpu said:
Due to the mistake, Google could have collected information about which websites people were accessing, from online videos they were watching to emails they were sending. .
Click to expand...

"Could have" being the important part. Words matter. No proof apparently, but I wouldn't put it past them :p ...

:cool:
 
Google is not at fault here. Idiots running open networks are. Only a complete moron checks their email (which might contain passwords, bank statements with account numbers, etc.) and visits their bank's web site to login with their password on an unencrypted network. If they're stupid enough to do that, they have no right to complain if their connection gets piggybacked.
 
petteyg359 said:
Google is not at fault here. Idiots running open networks are. Only a complete moron checks their email (which might contain passwords, bank statements with account numbers, etc.) and visits their bank's web site to login with their password on an unencrypted network. If they're stupid enough to do that, they have no right to complain if their connection gets piggybacked.
Click to expand...

Then, using your logic, if you leave the door to your house unlocked, it's OK for me to enter and take your stuff, right?
 
mbigna said:
Then, using your logic, if you leave the door to your house unlocked, it's OK for me to enter and take your stuff, right?
Click to expand...

Unlocked and open? Sure. Unlocked and closed? You have to open the door, which, if you've not been given permission, is "trespassing". Most cultures liken an open door to an invitation to enter. At the very least, they could turn off SSID advertising on their router, in effect closing the door, while still leaving it unlocked.
 
petteyg359 said:
Unlocked and open? Sure. Unlocked and closed? You have to open the door, which, if you've not been given permission, is "trespassing". Most cultures liken an open door to an invitation to enter. At the very least, they could turn off SSID advertising on their router, in effect closing the door, while still leaving it unlocked.
Click to expand...

What culture allows someone to enter a house with an open door free reign to take anything they want inside the house? Certainly not any in THIS country.
(nice try, though)

More info:
http://www.computerworld.com/s/arti...cy_gaffe?source=CTWNLE_nlt_dailyam_2010-05-17
 
mbigna said:
What culture allows someone to enter a house with an open door free reign to take anything they want inside the house?
Click to expand...

And here you're falling in line with ISPs who implement arbitrary bandwidth restrictions. Bits per second are bits per second. They don't disappear. They're available again as soon as one second ends and the next begins. If you use up some bits in somebody's open doorway, those bits are still there when you're gone. Is breathing the air on someone's property offensive to you? The air is still there when you leave, just like the bits. You're not "taking" anything.
 
petteyg359 said:
And here you're falling in line with ISPs who implement arbitrary bandwidth restrictions. Bits per second are bits per second. They don't disappear. They're available again as soon as one second ends and the next begins. If you use up some bits in somebody's open doorway, those bits are still there when you're gone. Is breathing the air on someone's property offensive to you? The air is still there when you leave, just like the bits. You're not "taking" anything.
Click to expand...

Since you are intent on continuing to flog this dead horse of an analogy that you have created, I will happily hand you even more rope with which to hang yourself.

1) Locked or Unlocked door regardless, it is trespassing if someone enters your house uninvited. It is theft (technically, burglary) if someone takes your stuff while inside (again locked or unlocked doesn't matter). Since you have not offered up any 'culture' that actually condones this, I will assume that you have ceded this point.

2) Bandwidth? Really?? Whether you realize it or not (evidently not), ISPs provide a product/service that has value. It doesn't matter if you pay by the bit or by the month, it is still considered theft for someone to freeload off the service without permission.

3) More applicably to this situation, Google didn't just 'use the service,' they actually recorded data--again without permission or even notification. Again, using your logic, if you don't have an internet firewall installed, it must be OK for any stranger to connect to your computer and copy all your email and any other personal data you might have stored on your computer.

Believe me, I'm not at all advocating foregoing firewalls or wireless encryption, but for someone to take advantage of an 'unlocked' (or 'open') door doesn't absolve them of responsibility.

BTW: I have plenty more rope.
 
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FWIW - SSID beacons are still used for this purpose (positioning using WiFi) even if the AP is 100% locked down with WPA2 and a 64-charachter random password. I believe that is all Google was really after (why NOT aggregate this freely & openly broadcasted SSID Beacon data as you are mapping the streets?) - anything beyond that was likely done on the employee's own accord.

I have no issues with someone using my SSID Beacon on my WPA2 protected WiFi AP as a form of location device. If you want to leave your WiFi open, that's your call - but the SSID is broadcasted in the clear in any case - and a form of "Beacon" is still sent even IF you disbale SSID Broadcast! ;) I know I've seen fewer and fewer open WiFi AP's as I've seen MORE and MORE AP's everywhere I go. I don't really think this (and open WiFi in general) is a huge deal as long as you know the security risks of being connected to a network (ANY network).

:cool:
 
Taken from your article:

It said it had been using a fleet of camera-equipped Street View vehicles, which take pictures for the group’s imaging services, and had been at the same time using the cars to assemble a database of electronic WiFi addresses intended to improve the functioning of its maps and other location services.

Google said the project leaders ignored that the vehicles were also taking in snippets of activity on the WiFi networks.
Click to expand...

Sounds like this was the employees doing this on their own accord (using Google's radio equipment, of course) - not something Google itself was perpetuating. Google simply wanted to aggregate the WiFi SSID's for geo-location type positioning. I know Google is "Big Brother" and all, but I seriously don't think Google execs had this in mind (how would this not get noticed and blown-up at some point?).

The article also mentioned "What if a German Corporation drove through Washington" - well I'd HOPE any sensetive Gov't data is NOT being transmitted on open WiFi for crying out loud! If it is over open WiFi, the it should at LEAST be encrypted ;)

Use Open WiFi at your own risk - Even Starbucks (and others) that use WPA are still a HUGE threat as you are on the local LAN with anyone on that AP. Dem's da breaks, and anyone including a rouge Google Employee can easily sniff your data...

:cool:
 
Did you mean to call Google employees Communist (red)? I think you meant "rogue" employee :)
 
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