Google Stops Deleting Street View WiFi Data

ft.com:

Google halted the global deletion of collected private WiFi data on Friday following confusion over what it should do with the material.

Read the whole story: ft.com

Comments

[SuPaMan]

01:32 PM on 05/24/2010

my apologies, I just realized I completely misunderstood what Privacy International was trying to say about the data collection. It just dawned on me I misread.

[SuPaMan]

01:11 PM on 05/24/2010

let me get this right...Privacy International wants Google to retain the personal information that was illegally collected so that the info can be used against people in the investigation of crimes?

[Eris23]

10:29 AM on 05/24/2010

The statute named in the lawsuit is 18 USC §2511. According to 18 USC §2511(2)(g),

"it shall not be unlawful under this chapter or chapter 121 of this title for any person—
(i) to intercept or access an electronic communication made through an electronic communication system that is configured so that such electronic communication is readily accessible to the general public;"

As much as it may pain people, if you run an open wireless router with no encryption and no password protection, you have "an electronic communication system that is configured so that such electronic communication is readily accessible to the general public." I'm sure the other wise will attempt to argue that google did something akin to walking into someone's home and stealing from it simply because the door was unlocked, but it will be a stretch.

[continued ...]

[Eris23]

10:30 AM on 05/24/2010

[... continued from above]

Under 18 USC §2510, which is the definitions section of the statute,

"As used in this chapter [...] (16) “readily accessible to the general public” means, with respect to a radio communication, that such communication is not—
(A) scrambled or encrypted;
(B) transmitted using modulation techniques whose essential parameters have been withheld from the public with the intention of preserving the privacy of such communication;
(C) carried on a subcarrier or other signal subsidiary to a radio transmission;
(D) transmitted over a communication system provided by a common carrier, unless the communication is a tone only paging system communication; or
(E) transmitted on frequencies allocated under part 25, subpart D, E, or F of part 74, or part 94 of the Rules of the Federal Communications Commission, unless, in the case of a communication transmitted on a frequency allocated under part 74 that is not exclusively allocated to broadcast auxiliary services, the communication is a two-way voice communication by radio;"

I fail to see how Google will be found to be at fault here based on what has been disclosed so far.

[Jeanine London]

12:54 PM on 05/23/2010

Anyone awake yet? Rub the sleep from your eyes! Or do you feel safer now? Google is also presenting the general application of face recognition software, for your PC, cell phone, the supermarket surviellence. Just click your phone camera and google that face and get all the IT info on that hot chick across the bar. Or log on, and wait for the local cops to knock on your door because you nearly match some surveillance video of a hold-up, or because your iris dialate in response to certain pop-up ads, demonstrating your threat to society. Best of all, as you check through airport security, your fellow passengers will be relieved to know no one boarding matched the watchlist as their faces were scanned...better a face scan than that full body scan anyway, right? Makes that full face cover burka more appealing.
Google's watching. What are you complaining about? Your safety is at stake. And I can tell by the way you carry your shoes at the airport, you don't mind a bit.

[SuPaMan]

01:24 PM on 05/24/2010

yeah that's pretty scary. Google is constantly creating more and more technology that collects more and more personal info about you. Most of these breaches of personal privacy are discovered by accident such as in this case and the Buzz case. They market these products as helpful to you but all they are doing is spying and data mining. I know that the government and private businesses have always kept some degree of info about their citizens and customers, but there isn't a government on this planet that has the amount of info on you that Google has or will have. Someone will come along and say that I am being paranoid, paranoia is the irrational fear of things that aren't really true or not really gonna happen based on little or no knowledge. This is all happening before our eyes. In the case of Facebook, you can simple not use the service and you maybe fine, in the case of Google, they are actively driving around and collecting information from you whether you participate in the service or not; facial recognition, streetview, wifi sniffing. They are coming to you, you don't have to go to them.

[rougebaisers]

11:58 PM on 05/22/2010

When did google become a monster?

[xilduq]

12:18 AM on 05/24/2010

In my eyes, for some time.

[pat2 718]

04:39 PM on 05/22/2010

A more accurate, less misleading, less apparently intended to be provocative headline for this would be "Google asked to stop deleting Street View WiFi data".

[Charity]

03:29 PM on 05/22/2010

Confused? Now there's a word you don't often find in relation to whatever executive decisions Google makes. So, how about not only deleting the info but also destroying any hard drives they're on, such as wiping them clean?

[DRaymond]

03:50 PM on 05/22/2010

read the article, because if Google broke privacy laws then the data is evidence of a crime.

I noted at the end that there was a class action suit in the US. I guess the class would be anybody with a wireless hub or router on a street which is included in StreetView. I guess that would pretty much include everybody.

[mel2000]

03:57 PM on 05/22/2010

I live in a suburb 35 miles from Chicago and my home isn't on StreetView.

[GoDogGo]

03:10 PM on 05/22/2010

Does this bother you? Creep you out? Me too. Google simply has too much power and abuses it.

Change your search engine NOW! It's in in your preferences and you'll find many are now better.

[pat2 718]

04:34 PM on 05/22/2010

GoDogGo, it wasn't their decision -- they were deleting the data but were told to stop because the data might be wanted as evidence. Unlike other companies recently in the news, Google began fixing the problem when they found out about it and isn't resisting the investigation.

Re. search engines: I want the early DEC AltaVista back. Results were not ordered by popularity -- allowed user to specify ordering based on content -- so one could find even obscure documents.

[BookDesigner]

04:54 PM on 05/22/2010

I used AltaVista for years. If you were lucky, you could find the answer to "life, the universe, and everything" on page 42 of the search results. Or the answer to a simpler query would be found out on page 1028, if you had the patience to keep looking through the search results.

[GoDogGo]

12:01 AM on 05/23/2010

No. The fact that they collected this information at all is ridiculous, regardless of a government body's desire to save or delete it. It's indefensible.

The reality is that Google not only tracks and saves your searches, it also tracks and cross references your email address (often), the Youtube videos you watch and countless other aspects of your online life and SAVES IT. Tracking us in the online and physical world makes them a good bit more than creepy.

[BookDesigner]

06:17 PM on 05/22/2010

It doesn't bother me at all. Google Street View teams scanned for unsecured wi-fi networks. They may have gathered too much information, though they claim to only have been recording IP addresses to provide users with viable (free) networks should they be in the area. I'd be more creeped out by neighbors (or hooligans) getting into my network. That said, you'd be an idiot to not secure your wireless router.

[GoDogGo]

12:06 AM on 05/23/2010

If they could track your IP in a secured network, don't you think they would (as they already track it and database you online now)? Google's ethics are deeply in question and their value of privacy is nil:

“If you have something that you don’t want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn’t be doing it in the first place.”

-Eric Schmidt, Google CEO