Google admits wi-fi data collection blunder

[movingtables]

Blundar my ass.
you see It's when a company such as Google get CAUGHT you get to know their true Intentions.

Google has admitted that for the past three years it has wrongly collected information people have sent over unencrypted wi-fi networks.

more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8684110.stm

 

[Jokester]

Heard this on the radio early, it's absolutely shocking that Google have been effectively been spying on private individuals and collecting personal information from them. Yes people should make their networks secure but it's no defence for something that's illegal to do.

 

[xJcBx]

I always wondered what was in it for them, 'cos it must have cost leads to do :I

 

[Sin_Chase]

Partial data streams caught from moving vehicles on unsecured wifi networks.

Boo-hoo. It's being deleted, do you REALLY think if they were conducting illegal activity they would leave the code AND data for auditors to see?

 

[EdGey]

I hate things like this.

 

[tntcoder]

Partial data streams caught from moving vehicles on unsecured wifi networks.

Boo-hoo. It's being deleted, do you REALLY think if they were conducting illegal activity they would leave the code AND data for auditors to see?

Do you not think it raises some privacy questions?

 

[Sin_Chase]

Do you not think it raises some privacy questions?

No.

And I am sick of the privacy whiners who harp on about CCTV in public areas who will no doubt harp on about such a huge invasion of privacy on their un-secured Wi-Fi network.

God forbid Google can see their SSID like ANYONE else on the street could.

Seriously, you could think Google just strangled some people's cat at the reaction.

 

[Jokester]

Partial data streams caught from moving vehicles on unsecured wifi networks.

Boo-hoo. It's being deleted, do you REALLY think if they were conducting illegal activity they would leave the code AND data for auditors to see?

Somebody should have twigged that the cars were generating more than just photos! Not only was it making it off the cars hard drive, but it was then being stored on their servers as part of the research project. Google clearly had no qualms about gethering and using this data and only said they were going to delete it once it was pointed out that it was illegal to do.

 

[Doonhamer]

Is it not the case in Germany that legally individuals must secure there networks making them as much at fault for this as Google themselves? Or am I completely making this up?

 

[Sin_Chase]

Somebody should have twigged that the cars were generating more than just photos! Not only was it making it off the cars hard drive, but it was then being stored on their servers as part of the research project. Google clearly had no qualms about gethering and using this data and only said they were going to delete it once it was pointed out that it was illegal to do.

SSID maps for unsecured WiFi networks are actually a pretty damn good idea and is usefull data.

I would use such a service. Problem is all the free to public use un-secured networks are mixed in with all the home users who have not taken the responsibility to secure their own network.

 

[Berserker]

Heard this on the radio early, it's absolutely shocking that Google have been effectively been spying on private individuals and collecting personal information from them.

They could do that every time you search, use GMail, Google Docs, Google Earth, ...

That said, it's a highly embarrassing, not to mention inexcusable, blunder and one that should never have happened.

That said, they still won't have access to anything encrypted, so rest assured that unless you've been irresponsible with your credit card, for example, then at least that's safe.

One good thing might come of this - publicity about unsecured wi-fi connections. Maybe some people will check theirs.

All that said, I'd be more worried about deliberate wardriving than I would Google Street View cars doing it. I'd also be more worried about iPhone users who don't know that their phone can connect automatically to unsecured networks. Yes, they do. I've witnessed mine doing it while walking down the street.

 

[ChrisJSY]

People are over-reacting, assuming it's spying and don't have much of a clue of what exactly is going on. Chances are you'll not see anything bad come from this, ever.
They probably have a list of SSIDs, do we even know if network names are even tied to geographical locations? Good god, think of the children, google has a list of a million "Netgear" "Linksys" etc words on a database.
Now if people want privacy, don't leave your network open with shared folders for anyone who happens to drive past with a laptop to acess. It's that simple.

 

[Jokester]

SSID maps for unsecured WiFi networks are actually a pretty damn good idea and is usefull data.

I would use such a service. Problem is all the free to public use un-secured networks are mixed in with all the home users who have not taken the responsibility to secure their own network.

Indeed it would be useful, but finding out whether it's free to use doesn't involve eavesdropping on the existing traffic on that network.

They could do that every time you search, use GMail, Google Docs, Google Earth, ...

Bit of a difference between that and unlawfully aquiring user data though.

 

[ChrisJSY]

Indeed it would be useful, but finding out whether it's free to use doesn't involve eavesdropping on the existing traffic on that network.

It's like shouting out personal information in public and hoping nobody hears.
These people are broadcasting their network presence that ANYONE can see.

It's not exactly eavesdropping, the car probably passed my flat twice and picked up my publically available network details.
If you dont want people to know you have a wireless network, don't own one or broadcast it to the world around you.

Disable it and stick to a wired system or pay someone to secure it if you can't do it yourself.

 

[Sin_Chase]

The problem is complex articles like this hitting the media then every man and his dog all of a sudden thinks Google can log into their bank account, email accounts and Facebook because a Streetview car drove past.

People should be more concerned about being compromised from malware on their own systems which poses a much much much larger threat than some packet information in a database collected by a pretty straight up corporation.

Now people can assume all they want about google but I am pretty confident them collecting unsecured bank details and using it fraudulently would be commercial Suicide.

 

[Jokester]

It's like shouting out personal information in public and hoping nobody hears.
These people are broadcasting their network presence that ANYONE can see.

It's not exactly eavesdropping, the car probably passed my flat twice and picked up my publically available network details.
If you dont want people to know you have a wireless network, don't own one or broadcast it to the world around you.

Disable it and stick to a wired system or pay someone to secure it if you can't do it yourself.

Of course it's eavesdropping, they were intercepting information off the network that wasn't there's to do so. They weren't just establishing that the network was open publically, they were also reading and storing data from packets within the network for future analysis.

 

[Berserker]

They probably have a list of SSIDs.

Network traffic sampling is a whole lot more than SSIDs. They'll have a random sample of packets - many of them identifiable with deep packet inspection and some that can be reconstructed.

Bit of a difference between that and unlawfully aquiring user data though.

True, if it was indeed unlawful (I don't know the law). Would they have to prove intent? After all, anyone sat on a public wi-fi connection gets a sampling of passing traffic whether they like it or not. Of course, such people don't actually record such data, which it sounds like Google did.

Suffice to say this will be cannon fodder for the Street View haters. Huge own goal by Google.

 

[markweatherill]

Heck, my neighbour has a BT Homehub that appears to be doing something similar to acting as a wireless access point for other BT users.

 

[Jokester]

Heck, my neighbour has a BT Homehub that appears to be doing something similar to acting as a wireless access point for other BT users.

Oddly enough, I think it's meant to do that, certainly BT intended on their Homehubs creating a mesh network but don't know if it made it into the wild.

 

[tntcoder]

Of course it's eavesdropping, they were intercepting information off the network that wasn't there's to do so. They weren't just establishing that the network was open publically, they were also reading and storing data from packets within the network for future analysis.

That's my thinking. It's not really any different to illegal phone tapping, it's just easier to carry out passively with no one knowing.

Who cares if it's secured or not, it's someones property. Would it be ok for me to start recording and storing all mobile phone signal transmissions in the hope that I may one day be able to break the encryption? No it would not.