Friday, July 09, 2010

Google Wi-Spy - missing the point.

Those using Google Earth and Google Maps will no doubt be aware of the street-mapping that they company has been doing involving them driving down the roads snapping pictures. What most will probably be unaware of is that at the same time it seems they were panning the Wi-Fi frequencies and grabbing information from any open network.

Now Google claim innocence in this and blame a "rogue employee" however the US "Consumer Watchdog" group have got into the case by highlighting how this collection could have affected Congress members and may grabbed information regarding national security issues and proved this by demonstrating that at several Congress members homes an open network was detected. As such they're trying to pressure Congress into holding hearings into exactly what data Google holds.

Yeah I think they're missing the point in why the hearings need to be held. I would be more concerned with Congress members who may well have access to national security information running an open wireless network.

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