Google admits wi-fi data collection blunder

Jeebizz · 05-14-2010, 10:05 PM

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

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8684110.stm

H_TeXMeX_H · 05-15-2010, 03:11 AM

Quote:

"been mistakenly collecting samples of payload data from open networks".
...
"quite simply, it was a mistake"

Ohh, it's ok Google, I forgive you, I believe you, it was a terrible "mistake", you accidentally collected information and stored it about what people are doing in their own homes on their own networks.

It's not like you did it on purpose, no way, you would never do that, big daddy Google would never ever ever do that. I love you Google.

P.S. Burn it hell, Google, you evil f****.

b0uncer · 05-15-2010, 05:52 AM

Yeah well, if you let your pie cooling by the window and a dog passed by, it probably ate it. The dog is not to blame in that case, the baker is (or whoever put the pie there in the first place).

The excuse is sucky, though. They didn't know what was in those cars? Right...

H_TeXMeX_H · 05-15-2010, 06:05 AM

Well, there's also the fact that many people are not computer savvy, and that routers often come configured to broadcast Wifi (it is true, mine came like this, I had to turn it off).

catkin · 05-15-2010, 06:21 AM

Of course the Street View car managers had no idea their over-enthusiastic engineers were collecting, storing and analysing this data for three years and Richard Nixon was innocent and Adolf and Josef were nice guys.