FCC Investigating Google Street View Wi-Fi Data Collection

[pintobean]

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2372498,00.asp

The Federal Communications Commission is looking into whether Google's Street View Wi-Fi data collection violated the Communications Act, the agency confirmed Wednesday.

"Last month, Google disclosed that its Street View cars collected passwords, e-mails and other personal information wirelessly from unsuspecting people across the country," Michele Ellison, FCC Enforcement Bureau Chief, said in a statement. "In light of their public disclosure, we can now confirm that the Enforcement Bureau is looking into whether these actions violate the Communications Act. As the agency charged with overseeing the public airwaves, we are committed to ensuring that the consumers affected by this breach of privacy receive a full and fair accounting."

At issue is a May admission from Google that equipment attached to its Street View cars collected data that was traveling over unencrypted Wi-Fi networks, known as payload data. At first Google said it did not know if that data included personally identifiable information, but the company admitted last month that it did include entire e-mail addresses, URLs, and passwords.

When it made that announcement, Google also made several changes to its privacy policies: it appointed Alma Whitten to serve as Google's director of privacy across privacy and engineering; it promised to enhance its core privacy training for engineers and other groups; and Google said it will add a new process to its existing review system.

[AsahinaKimi]

1. I have seen my

residence by using Google's Street View. Its very disturbing to know, that if someone gets your address, they can see where you live. Though, I have used Street view to find local business in San Francisco, I often wonder why residential areas are included. Google may be your friend, but its also the friend of stalkers.

[pintobean]

2. Google is Big Brother

Oops... we accidentally installed wi-fi sniffers on our vehicles and accidentally collected people's private data.

[Occulus]

5. This is why you should always set a password for your in-house wireless network.

If you want a real scare, Google (!!) a Firefox extension called "Firesheep".

You won't ever use an open wifi hotspot again. Trust me on this.

[Gold Metal Flake]

11. Holy shit.

:scared:

[Occulus]

12. Ya know?

And the scary part is, I bet McDonald's, Starbuck's, etc have no knowledge of this Firefox extension.

The good news is that once the word really gets out, they'll have to protect the hotspots. Even something as simple as setting up a password with the password in the name of the hotspot would do the trick; you want people to know the password in this case.

Google took it one step further, and implemented HTTPS protocols for all logins (which is how it ought to be done in the first place). They stated that this is a trivial change that doesn't use all that much extra bandwidth.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

4. Anywho will drive them to your door as well.

We all need to get used to the fact that public data, which was always out there, is now more freely available.

Property records are a case in point. I helped a neighbor get information on an adjacent property that was being used as a dumping ground. Eventually it ended up in court. The defendant was incensed that we were able to determine she actually owned since she did not want that known. (open land version of a slum lord). Today I could do it online, then I went to the county assessors office.

Information/data wants to be free. The real concern is when the government licenses or otherwise controls access through private companies.

[snooper2]

9. If someone gets your address, they already know where you live

ever here of mapsco?

[WinkyDink]

3. Nothing will come of this but "promises to reform."

[ProgressiveProfessor]

6. If you broadcast in the open, its your stupidity at work

That Google collected it is not an concern to me and should not be illegal. What would be is what they did with the data once it was parsed. If you run unsecured wireless you are part of a problems the net is having...

[Occulus]

7. Well, now, to be fair,

sniffing the packets to gather identifying cookies and other information IS (probably) a violation of wiretapping laws, and I expect Google to go down hard for that (not that "go down hard" will mean much to them in any realistic sense).

Firesheep is much scarier than what Google did, but will force the open access points to either close up shop or to password protect their hotspots. In the long term, that's a good thing.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

14. It should not be if you broadcast it openly

I remember web stories of comments where a guy got in trouble for turning in his neighbor to the cops when he overheard them on his wireless phone etc. This is different. The risk is clearly known, well documented, and trivial to fix. Not doing it is creating a public nuisance.

Wide open wireless is a serious problem. War driving script kiddies cause all sorts of mischief, some of it going to the felony level. If you run a wireless access point, you have the responsibility to control its use. Some ISPs have made it a TOS violation to have open wireless access. I wish more would. "Free access" can still be available. Post the weekly password and make sure they turn off the router when the shop is closed.

Remember Satan in the mid 90s? It was the first of many such tools.

[pintobean]

8. Would it be a concern to you if

the bush administration had done the exact same thing?

[ProgressiveProfessor]

13. As in Eschelon?

[SidDithers]

10. K&R...

http://www.thestar.com/business/article/877850--google-accidentally-mapped-much-more-than-addresses-says-privacy-boss

Google accidentally mapped much more than addresses, says privacy boss

Thousands of Canadians likely had their privacy compromised when Google inadvertently collected personal information while putting together its Street View mapping service, Canada’s privacy commissioner says.

Jennifer Stoddart says the search engine company broke Canadian privacy laws by collecting personal information from unsecured wireless networks between March 2009 and May 2010.

An investigation by Stoddart’s office found complete emails, addresses, usernames and passwords. Even a list that provided the names of people suffering from certain medical conditions was collected.

“This incident was a serious violation of Canadians’ privacy rights,” she said in a statement.

Sid