• Google admits it also stole emails and passwords.
    83 replies, posted
Google has been under investigation for the past couple of months for 'accidentally' stealing WiFi data on its Google Street View cars. The cars were designed to take snapshots of streets to help improve its feature, expanding it to additional countries including Canada and Germany. The data was captured through an experimental project that Google accidentally included in its street view cars. However, the Google street cars took more than just photos, it also took personal information, like user IDs. According to a report by Reuters, Google stole more than just the details it originally claimed, it also captured full emails, URLs and even passwords. The original report left out these important details, and some countries have even allowed Google to delete this data, including the UK. The Canadian privacy commissioner is still investigating the matter, as Google did break Canadian privacy laws. Google did claim that some of the data collected was fragmented, because the cars were always moving, but some information that was captured was complete. Google went on to say that it was enhancing its privacy training for their engineers and important groups within the company. ----- S: [url]http://www.neowin.net/news/google-admits-it-also-stole-emails-and-passwords[/url] S2: [url]http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE69L4KW20101022[/url] ----- I don't know what to say other than wow. Edit: For clarification I'd like to point out that this was an accident and they didn't purposefully steal the data.
You serious? And I thought google was good :colbert:
Not cool.
I wonder what happened to the do not be evil motto?
There's one thing I have been wondering about this but hasn't been explained properly in any news source I have read yet: Did they collect (either by accident or on purpose) data from OPEN unsecured wireless networks, or did they collect data from secured networks?
[QUOTE=Domokun;25579765]I wonder what happened to the do not be evil motto?[/QUOTE] Haven't you watched the movies? It's a megacorp, it has to be evil.
[QUOTE=Domokun;25579765]I wonder what happened to the do not be evil motto?[/QUOTE] If their side of the story is to be believed, the cars were not meant to gather anything and they did by accident. This does however raise the question of why the camera cars were (are?) capable of doing this.
[QUOTE=Jsm;25579792]There's one thing I have been wondering about this but hasn't been explained properly in any news source I have read yet: Did they collect (either by accident or on purpose) data from OPEN unsecured wireless networks, or did they collect data from secured networks?[/QUOTE] Open, unsecure.
[QUOTE=Jsm;25579806]If their side of the story is to be believed, the cars were not meant to gather anything and they did by accident. This does however raise the question of why the camera cars were (are?) capable of doing this.[/QUOTE] I was thinking that they had a laptop and went around war driving.
Wait just a fucking second everyone, read the comments on this article ([url]http://gizmodo.com/5671049/google-street-view-cars-collected-emails-and-passwords[/url]) before you begin replying. Most of these articles are only trying to make Google look bad, rather than looking into the issue. [quote=Gizmodo Comment] This article seriously misrepresents what Google's post said. Anyone who has followed this story knows that there was a program that recorded unencrypted packets as it passed by wifi access points, but that they didn't analyze or look at that data to see what it was. All that they said today is that the investigators in Germany looked at that unanalyzed data, and that it contains enough information to reconstruct some passwords, urls, etc. The correct technical exclamation for this discovery is "Dur". Of course it contained some passwords and URLs, anyone who understood what has happened up to this point was expecting that. This article acts like this is an unexpected discovery, and that the fact that it hasn't been discovered until now and that the data hasn't been deleted is some kind of indictment of Google. That is just plain wrong: Google didn't analyze the data themselves because they are trying not to get tainted by it. That is a good thing. And the reason they haven't deleted it yet? They announced plans to have a third party securely destroy the data, but the governments investigating this forbid them to destroy it. So stop acting like failing to destroy it by now, is a failing on Google's part. That too, is a good thing. Nothing new here folks, move along [/quote]
Wow, I thought Google was better than that. [editline]22nd October 2010[/editline] It's pretty much the users fault though if they have a public network that's unsecure
Their fault for not encrypting their traffic. Derp, I use unencrypted wifi and get mad when somebody sniffs out my packets. [editline]22nd October 2010[/editline] This is why I tunnel everything through my secured server.
[QUOTE=PvtCupcakes;25579901]Their fault for not encrypting their traffic. Derp, I use unencrypted wifi and get mad when somebody sniffs out my packets.[/QUOTE] This is what I was thinking at first, but then I thought "What about those "Wi-Fi hotspots" for the public?"
Google you have deceived me.
[QUOTE=Panda X;25579937]This is what I was thinking at first, but then I thought "What about those "Wi-Fi hotspots" for the public?"[/QUOTE] I am seeing more and more public Wifi hotspots that use encryption, with a key that is shared with possible users somehow. I guess that would help against google stealing your data by accident, but not against someone who actually wants it.
[QUOTE=Panda X;25579937]This is what I was thinking at first, but then I thought "What about those "Wi-Fi hotspots" for the public?"[/QUOTE] SSH Tunnels.
[QUOTE=PvtCupcakes;25579901]Their fault for not encrypting their traffic. Derp, I use unencrypted wifi and get mad when somebody sniffs out my packets. [editline]22nd October 2010[/editline] This is why I tunnel everything through my secured server.[/QUOTE] but street view has absolutely nothing to do with wifi, urls, or passwords; this shouldn't of have happened on purpose from the beginning
Well, didn't see that one coming.
Holy shit...
inb4 skynet
[QUOTE=Domokun;25579765]I wonder what happened to the do not be evil motto?[/QUOTE] [img]http://blogs.mirror.co.uk/developing-world-stories/css/toilet.jpg[/img]
[QUOTE=Domokun;25579765]I wonder what happened to the do not be evil motto?[/QUOTE] Got rid of it years ago. [editline]23rd October 2010[/editline] Seriously fuck Google I hate them so fucking much.
If you're recording wireless information, unless you carefully config your software, it's actually really easy to capture this shit. If they just captured everything into a pcap, they probably have email passwords, Facebook passwords, all URLs etc from unencrypted access points.
Is it bad if I just, don't care. I think there is a low chance of them doing anything with it.
[QUOTE=xHcOxPinata;25580634]Is it bad if I just, don't care. I think there is a low chance of them doing anything with it.[/QUOTE] I love how everyone makes such a huge issue about it. Do you really think outside of google that life is as private as you think? You'd be amazed at what people can find out about you.
[QUOTE=xHcOxPinata;25580634]Is it bad if I just, don't care. I think there is a low chance of them doing anything with it.[/QUOTE] I don't really care either. Neither do I hate google. I use their services and I love them. If google sniffs random unsecured wifi, be it so...
[QUOTE=lilcheeselad;25579888]Wow, I thought Google was better than that. [editline]22nd October 2010[/editline] It's pretty much the users fault though if they have a public network that's unsecure[/QUOTE] Don't defend them, just because they're google doesn't make it any better. There's a difference between some hoodlum and a multi-billion dollar corp
you deserve it for having unsecured networks
[QUOTE=Dr. Fishtastic;25580764]Don't defend them, just because they're google doesn't make it any better. There's a difference between some hoodlum and a multi-billion dollar corp[/QUOTE] There's also a difference between an accident and purposefully stealing data.
[QUOTE=Psychokitten;25580467][img_thumb]http://blogs.mirror.co.uk/developing-world-stories/css/toilet.jpg[/img_thumb][/QUOTE] More like [img]http://www.fahad.com/pics/google_tisp_2.jpg[/img] Am i right or what?
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