Google - “single greatest breach in the history of privacy"

[Whitey]

Google Wi-Fi snooping broke the law

The Privacy Commissioner, Karen Curtis, has completed her investigation into Google's Wi-Fi spying bungle and found the company breached the Privacy Act.

Authorities all over the world are investigating Google, including the Australian privacy watchdog and Australian Federal Police, for sucking up 600GB of “payload data” from unsecured wireless networks over several years while taking pictures for its Street View mapping service.

The Communications Minister , Stephen Conroy, described the move as deliberate and labelled it the “single greatest breach in the history of privacy”. [smh.com.au...]

[Tropical Island]

...from unsecured wireless networks...

One could argue that if these networks were unsecured then they were in the public domain & information was not protected.

[wheel]

One could argue that if these networks were unsecured then they were in the public domain & information was not protected.

And one could argue that unprotected doesn't default into public domain. Which clearly is what most consumers would expect, and also now the law.

[wyweb]

One could argue that if these networks were unsecured then they were in the public domain & information was not protected.

The same argument could be made that if the front door to my house is unlocked, it's okay for a thief to walk in and take what he wants.

It's not.

[Whitey]

Update - Google Australia issues an official apology

We’re sorry

Friday, July 9, 2010 at 1:55 PM
A couple of years ago, Google started collecting WiFi network information via our Street View cars to improve location-based services like search and maps. In May, we announced that we had also mistakenly been collecting publicly broadcast payload data (information sent over the network). To be clear, we did not want and have never used any payload data in our products or services--and as soon as we discovered our error, we announced that we would stop collecting all WiFi data via our Street View vehicles and removed all WiFi reception equipment from them.

In Australia, we have been working with the Privacy Commissioner to support her investigation into what happened. We welcome today’s conclusion of this investigation, and as a result we have committed to working even more closely with them going forward on the privacy implications of our product launches.

We want to reiterate to Australians that this was a mistake for which we are sincerely sorry. Maintaining people’s trust is crucial to everything we do and we have to earn that trust every single day. We are acutely aware that we failed badly here.

Posted by Alan Eustace, Senior VP, Engineering & Research [google-au.blogspot.com...]

[londrum]

if you read that apology there's no actual mention of them deleting the data. it just says they'll stop collecting it from here on in. the burgler is keeping his loot.

[mhansen]

One could argue that if these networks were unsecured then they were in the public domain & information was not protected.

I guess you could also argue that if you caught the perv down the street snapping pictures of your significant other through an un-curtained window, its OK... because he/she forgot to draw the shade down.

GooG willingly, and knowingly sniffed home network info for commercial gain on one of their products.

In May, we announced that we had also mistakenly been collecting publicly broadcast payload data

I'm sure someone knew this data was being collected, and at some point, some unhappy GooG employee will come forth and tell the rest of the story.