The Hysteria Over Google's Wi-Fi Scanning | Hacker News Reader

The Hysteria Over Google's Wi-Fi Scanning

lauren.vortex.com

11 pointswglb8 comments

Recording a few packets off an open wifi doesn't sound like much of an issue. But the fact that governments -- be it Hongkong or Germany or the others -- line up to grab a share of the data should tell you that someone, somewhere, has a real, tangible (and not necessarily non-evil) use for it.

IMO, Google put itself in a bad position having this data, whether they intended it or not, because other people can get to this data, by subpoena, thinly veiled threats with law enforcement (in countries where the state doesn't get checked and balanced that much), or plain economic espionage (for all the mobsters out there). It's a little bit like creating an atomic bomb in your backyard: even when you're not planning to do any evil with it, it's still a bad idea to have one because the others will come and want.

Google wants to delete the data and has already deleted much of it. But they've constructed a catch-22 where they believe that under German law it is illegal to possess the data, illegal to delete it, and illegal to give it to the government, so they're doing nothing. It will probably have to get hashed out in court.

The article, like the controversy, is a cup of very vague weak tea with a hint of general conspiracy. It would be more informative if the author provided any information about the specific laws allegedly broken by Google and who Google's adversaries are.

I'd be curious to see how accessing an open wifi can be made illegal. I mean, it's legal to scan for wifi networks, this how we all connect to wifi networks. Now, what happen when my laptop finds an open wifi network? I if I click to connect to that network, my laptop wifi is going to ask permission (through handshake and protocol etc) to the open wifi which is going to accept and grant me permission. How can asking first and receiving a positive response to enter an open wifi be illegal? I mean it's not like I actually broke into it or cracked the password, I actually asked first and got an inviting response.

I'd be curious to see how accessing an open wifi can be made illegal.

Using the magic words "expectation of privacy". If we assume that the general public is clueless about computers and thus many people expect that their open wi-fi is private (even though technically it isn't), then there's a problem. Also see the debate about thermal camera scanning of homes.

...my laptop wifi is going to ask permission to the open wifi...

But that's not what Google did; they were sniffing traffic without associating, so the APs had no opportunity to deny access.

What's the point of enacting laws that are impossible to prove in court? How can I, a user that doesn't even know that I shoudl have a Wifi password, prove that someone passively received radio waves coming out of my house?

The answer is: you can't. If you can't prove someone did something, it's dumb to make it illegal.

Weinstein doesn't link to any of the sources he is criticizing, perhaps out of a desire to avoid giving them any more underserved publicity than they already have. But rest assured, such conspiracy theories are out there:

http://www.digitalsociety.org/2010/05/speculation-could-goog...

I don't get it either. The street view photos are more an invasion of privacy than recording a few packets. If this WIFI data did become public someone could claim the traffic must have been from their neighbor or fabricated by Google,

Unless Google was matching the Wifi data with their server traffic?

Reply on news.ycombinator.com