Google "Mistakenly" Collected Data Over Unsecured WiFi Networks
23 replies, posted
Source: [URL]http://money.cnn.com/2010/05/14/technology/Google_mistaken_wifi_collection/index.htm?cnn=yes&hpt=T2[/URL]
[quote]
Google disclosed Friday that its Street View cars had mistakenly collected data about the Web sites users were visiting on open wireless Internet networks.
Alan Eustace, a senior executive in Google's engineering and research department, apologized for the mistake in a blog post and said the company is working with regulators to dispose of the data.
"We are profoundly sorry for this error and are determined to learn all the lessons we can from our mistake," Eustace wrote.
He said the company has stopped its Street View cars, which are used to gather information for Google's mapping service, from collecting WiFi data entirely.
Eustace also stressed that the data was only collected from networks that were not password protected, and that it was never used "in any Google products."
While the data were collected from networks that were not password-protected, Google would not have been able to access any encrypted data, such as bank account information, the company said. Google had previously said that its Street View cars only collected information that is publicly broadcast on WiFi networks, such as network names and router numbers. At the time, however, the company said the cars did not collect "payload data" sent over the network, which could include what Web sites people are visiting.
That disclosure, in a blog post on April 27, was in response to an inquiry from the German data protection authority.
On Friday, Google said the request from a German authority had prompted the company to conduct an internal investigation of "everything we have been collecting," according to Eustace.
"It's now clear that we have been mistakenly collecting samples of payload data from open (i.e. non-password-protected) WiFi networks," he said in his post.
The mistake stemmed from an experimental piece of software code, which sampled all categories of publicly broadcast WiFi data, that was inadvertently included in a program the cars began using in 2007 to collect other wireless data.
Eustace said "only fragments" of data were collected by the cars, which use equipment that automatically changes channels about five times a second.
Danny Sullivan, editor of industry blog Search Engine Land, said the cars would have only detected "snippets" of information, and that encrypted data would not have been compromised.
"There could be some incredibly sensitive data in there, and there could be some that means very little," he said.
Sullivan said he was not surprised that Google could have made such a mistake. "But it doesn't make it any more acceptable," he said, adding that the disclosure comes at an inopportune time for the company.
"This is a really bad thing for them to have happen right now," he said. "They're already under fire on privacy because of the way they rolled out Google Buzz."
In February, Google modified a feature on its new social network service that automatically made people's private contacts public, after an uproar over the privacy breach
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Google = Skynet.
Google's Global takeover > Singularity.
:colbert:
Do you guys think Google will surpass Microsoft and Apple in the next ten years? I'm curious as to where they'll be...
Google's next step is to start making computers.
Next step? They have for years, well, servers anyway...
[URL="http://www.uq.edu.au/gsa/images/google-search-appliance.png"][img]http://www.uq.edu.au/gsa/images/google-search-appliance.png[/img][/URL]
They even use their own RedHat based OS, configurable from a nice friendly web interface.
I really wonder what would happen to the market WHEN and IF they decided to make their own computers.
[QUOTE=Duecez;21952834]I really wonder what would happen to the market WHEN and IF they decided to make their own computers.[/QUOTE]
Are we talking home computers or servers? They already make servers.
This is why we secure our networks.
I think everyone's referring to home computers, Faze.
[QUOTE=Duecez;21952834]I really wonder what would happen to the market WHEN and IF they decided to make their own computers.[/QUOTE]
The market would become saturated with yellow PC cases that have various sized drill holes in them.
they're already working on their own os
Oh google :rolleyes:
I still love you
why doesn't google do something good with youtube?
Oh no! Google has very small bits of anonymous information about what websites people are visiting! What if...what if they use it to IMPROVE THEIR SERVICE!?
I'll be in my fallout bunker.
[QUOTE=raccoon2112;21953286]they're already working on their own os[/QUOTE]
[url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Chrome_OS]Their OS[/url] is really shitty, it's like a web browser with some apps pretty much.
[QUOTE=Zeke129;21953228]The market would become saturated with yellow PC cases that have various sized drill holes in them.[/QUOTE]
They have blue cases too. Lol.
[QUOTE=Heroms;21953893][url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Chrome_OS]Their OS[/url] is really shitty, it's like a web browser with some apps pretty much.[/QUOTE]
Its called a terminal bro.
[QUOTE=Heroms;21953893][url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Chrome_OS]Their OS[/url] is really shitty, it's like a web browser with some apps pretty much.[/QUOTE]
Yep. It might be good for very, very limited devices.
[QUOTE=faze;21952602]Do you guys think Google will surpass Microsoft and Apple in the next ten years? I'm curious as to where they'll be...[/QUOTE]
I hope so. As long as they keep their indie supporting, open, multi-platform, censure denying attitude I have nothing against them taking over.
[editline]04:18PM[/editline]
[QUOTE=Heroms;21953893][url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Chrome_OS]Their OS[/url] is really shitty, it's like a web browser with some apps pretty much.[/QUOTE]
Based on some future visions, you won't need anything aside the Web browser on your PC.
Fucking privacy organizations. I mean, i do appreciate them trying to protect my data privacy and everything but fuck them for delaying Street View over and over for no real reason. When you see any of your property on Street View, click the report button and it will be gone within hours. The fuck is your problem.
[QUOTE=Heroms;21953893][url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Chrome_OS]Their OS[/url] is really shitty, it's like a web browser with some apps pretty much.[/QUOTE]
And what do you spend 90% of your time doing on a PC?
:>
Funny how they only came clean when they were asked about it. Dodgey.
Pretty good plan to spy on everyone without them questioning it though. :)
So what exactly did they collect?
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