Google scorned for snooping on WiFi data

Privacy and Surveillance

Google scorned for snooping on WiFi data

Previous

Contents

Next

When Google conceived of its Street View product, which gives users a street-level view of selected locations all over the globe, a lot of people roared in protest. After all, with all the information being held by the search engine giant, it seemed ridiculous to go on snooping data at this very intimate level. Despite the protests, the search engine giant continued with its operations and the snooping.

Now, this Google Street View product takes another turn as Google reported that they were able to intercept some passwords and emails through the unencrypted WiFi networks that its sensors get into. According to the company, its only intention was to find out the position and identity of WiFi hotspots to power a service location it operates. In the process, the company said that they were inadvertently able to intercept such private date.

That now begs the question why Google chose to scoop data in the first place. Google said that they were only able to scoop "fractions" of data because it kept on changing WiFi channels five times a second, but with fast WiFi networks these days, it is not improbable that important data such as the passwords and messages were also snooped.

Now at least 30 states in the United States alone have expressed their willingness to take part in the joint investigation process. Google said that although it was mistake, they believe that they did not violate any US law. If proven otherwise, however, they could be in big trouble. This might be a setback not only for them but for the product as well.

I'm genuinely disturbed by this information right now. Although we can say that Google itself reported the oddity to authorities, how sure are we that the company didn't make any use out of the data before releasing the news to the public? Now this is another reason for all of us to keep our WiFi connections secure. You'll never know who's trying to get your information.

You can talk about... Google scorned for snooping on WiFi data

Tags: • connections • investigation • sensors • networks • emails • passwords • united states • wifi hotspots • search engine • privacy • channels • wifi • wifi data •

• Basic Internet Tips to Protect Your Privacy (online privacy)
• Effective Password Management Tips (passwords)
• Warrantless Search On Yahoo! Mail Dropped (warrantless searches)
• So Your Privacy Has Been Breached, Now What? (privacy)
• More related articles for So Your Privacy Has Been Breached, Now What?

Previous

Contents

Next

Privacy & DMCA Policy -- Sitemap
street view Google scorned for snooping on WiFi data