Google facing investigations for data harvesting

After admitting to collecting data from Wi-Fi networks, Google could find itself at the center of investigations in both Germany and the U.S. The data was being collected by the cars Google uses for its mapping service, which also collected Wi-Fi addresses and snippets of data.

“This may be one of the most massive surveillance incidents by a private corporation that has ever occurred”, said Marc Rotenberg, leader of the nonprofit Electronic Privacy Information Centre in Washington.

“It is unprecedented vacuuming of WiFi data by a private company. Can you imagine what would happen if a German corporation was sending cars through Washington sucking up all this information?”

Google set for probes on data harvesting [Financial Times]

http://www.theuniversalsteve.com SSteve

I'm not sure why this is a big issue. Maybe there's some ramification I'm not seeing. My understanding is that Google sucked up some snippets of data that were being transmitted on wireless networks that were not password protected. How is that different than taking a picture of a campaign sign I put out on my lawn? It's information that I placed out in public. If I didn't want that information to be accessible to everyone driving by I would put a password on my wireless network (and keep the campaign sign in my bedroom closet).