Google Street View logs WiFi networks, Mac addresses

[boedicca]

More news from the GEVIL empire:

As Google Street View trucks troll through neighborhoods, they are logging WIFI networks and Mac Addresses.

Google's roving Street View spycam may blur your face, but it's got your number. The Street View service is under fire in Germany for scanning private WLAN networks, and recording users' unique Mac (Media Access Control) addresses, as the car trundles along.

Germany's Federal Commissioner for Data Protection Peter Schaar says he's "horrified" by the discovery.

"I am appalled… I call upon Google to delete previously unlawfully collected personal data on the wireless network immediately and stop the rides for Street View," according to German broadcaster ARD.

Spooks have long desired the ability to cross reference the Mac address of a user's connection with their real identity and virtual identity, such as their Gmail or Facebook account.

Other companies have logged broadcasting WLAN networks and published the information. By contrast Google has not published the WLAN map, or Street View in Germany; Google hopes to launch the service by the end of the year.

But Google's uniquely cavalier approach to privacy, and its potential ability to cross reference the information raises additional concerns. Google CEO Eric Schmidt recently said internet users shouldn't worry about privacy unless they have something to hide. And when there's nowhere left to hide...?

Google Street View logs WiFi networks, Mac addresses ? The Register


This news makes the Norwegian Frogmen even more heroic:

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30gpRhSYO2U]Norwegian Frogmen[/ame]


I requested that GOOG review Chez Boe from Street View quite awhile ago - but had no idea they were collecting WIFI and Mac addresses as well.

 

[waltky]

EHS leads to schoolgirl's suicide...

Schoolgirl found hanging from tree after suffering from 'rare allergic reaction to WiFi'
30 Nov 2015 - A teenage schoolgirl was found hanging from a tree after she began suffering from an allergic reaction to WiFi, an inquest has heard.
Tragic Jenny Fry was left with crippling headaches, tiredness and bladder problems brought on by electro-hypersensitivity (EHS). An inquest into her death heard how the 15-year-old's mum Debra said her symptoms were caused because she was allergic to wireless internet connections at her school. Jenny's body was found hanging from a tree at Brooke Woods, near her home in Chadlington, Oxon., at 4.20pm on June 11. Earlier in the day she had texted a friend telling her she was not going to school that day.

Tragic: Jenny suffered from a rare allergy​

Her mum Debra and dad Charles Newman told the inquest they believed their daughter was made ill because of WiFi. Although they had taken the WiFi out of their own home, it was still used in Chipping Norton School, Oxon., where she was a pupil. Mrs Fry told Oxfordshire Coroners' Court Jenny had started showing signs of EHS in November 2012. She said: "Jenny was getting ill and so was I. I did some research and found how dangerous WiFi could be so I had it taken out of the house. "Both Jenny and I were fine at home but Jenny continued to be ill at school in certain areas.

"She was receiving lots of detentions, not for being disruptive in class or misbehaving, but often because she used to take herself out of the classroom to find another where she was able to work. She took her schoolwork seriously. "I took lots of information into school to show the headteacher, Simon Duffy, but he said there was equally the same information available claiming WiFi was safe. "I also had a heated exchange with teachers telling them Jenny was allergic to WiFi and that it made no sense making her take detentions in rooms that were making her ill.

MORE[/quote]

 

[waltky]

Granny says dey need to bring free Wifi to America First!...

Google Brings Free WiFi to Mexico, First Stop in Latin America
March 13, 2018 — Alphabet’s Google said on Tuesday that it will launch a network of free Wi-Fi hotspots across Mexico, part of the search giant’s effort to improve connectivity in emerging markets and put its products in the hands of more users.

Google Station, an ad-supported network of Wi-Fi hotspots in high-traffic locations, is launching in Mexico with 56 hotspots and others planned, the company said. Mexico will be Google Station’s third market following India and Indonesia, and the first in Latin America. Mexico has made great strides in connectivity since a 2013-14 telecom reform intended to loosen the grip of billionaire Carlos Slim’s America Movil, which has long dominated the market.

Vice President of Product Management at Google, Anjali Joshi, looks on during a news conference to announce the launching of Google Station in Mexico City​

From 2013 to 2016, the number of people accessing the Internet in Mexico rose by 20 million, according to a report last fall by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. Still, the country lags behind other OECD nations in terms of internet access, the report said. “We are finding that public Wi-Fi remains still a very important way to get online,” Anjali Joshi, a vice president for product management at Google, told reporters.

Journalists wait at a news conference, for the launch of Google Station, a network of free WI-FI hotspots across the country, beginning in Mexico City​

She added that Google saw Mexico as a good entrypoint for the product in Latin America. Mexico-based SitWifi provided equipment for the hotspots. Google’s initial batch of Wi-Fi zones is scattered across the country, from the Ciudad Juarez airport at the U.S. border to posh shopping centers in Mexico City. Google Station now counts roughly 8 million users a month in India, where the program began in 2016.

Google Brings Free WiFi to Mexico, First Stop in Latin America

 

[theDoctorisIn]

Well, that's an interesting juxtaposition of posts from years apart.