4 ms·

Did you even read what this does? It's used to aid geopositioning. No data from the network is logged, other than its SSID/MAC address and its approximate locat

Did you even read what this does? It's used to aid geopositioning. No data from the network is logged, other than its SSID/MAC address and its approximate location.

bananas 13y ago
Yes I understand it entirely. There are enough AP's around me for Apple Maps to know if I'm in bed or having a poo. You can see the marker move. More services like this are bad. They already know who I am. What could possibly go wrong? Edit: when I say more services are bad like this I mean we should be opt-in for both collection and usage rather than opt out.
- oconnore 13y ago
  That problem is entirely due to you choosing to run Google/Apple software on a network attached computer that you carry with you everywhere (even, apparently, to poo). Mapping the source of radio signals is common and expected. Your Wifi router is basically a big bright lightbulb that flashes with a unique pattern, and can be seen through walls. You can't legitimately ask the rest of the world not to notice it, the same way you can't request that no one use your porch light as a landmark.
  - droopybuns 13y ago
    No. It shouldn't be expected that a $410b market cap company is out mapping this data and selling it to advertisers. Just because you can, doesn't mean you should. Not a trustworthy company.
- davepage 13y ago
  There is a funny bump on the side of your toy called a power button. Perhaps you could too could learn the joy of silence?
Cthulhu_ 13y ago
> No data from the network is logged Nowadays it shouldn't, no, but Google's had some lawsuits where their Streetview cars accidentally scooped up random bits of data crossing over the wifi lines. This measure was added afterwards, iirc.
_wmd 13y ago
Except for that one small time in Europe when they "accidentally" captured live traffic en masse.. http://www.bit-tech.net/news/bits/2010/05/17/google-admits-street-view-wifi-sniffing/1 http://www.bit-tech.net/news/bits/2010/05/17/google-admits-s...
- yohui 13y ago
  What's with the scare quotes? Are you suggesting it was not an accident?
  - nieve 13y ago
    You may have missed the bits that came out about the capture going on with the knowledge of some Google employees. Th e original developer has plenty of experience with wifi data capture and knew exactly what you could do with the data as well as that you didn't need full packet dumps to snag SSIDs. "Google long maintained that the engineer was solely responsible for this aspect of the project, which resulted in official investigations, some still unresolved, in more than a dozen countries. But a complete version of the F.C.C.’s report, released by Google on Saturday, has cast doubt on that explanation, saying that the engineer informed at least one superior and that seven engineers who worked on the code were all in a position to know what was going on." - http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/01/technology/engineer-in-googles-street-view-is-identified.html http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/01/technology/engineer-in-goo...
- eli 13y ago
  I don't think "en masse" is a fair way to describe a handful of stray packets per AP as the car drove by.
  - scott_karana 13y ago
    200 GB is a "handful"? http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2012-05/03/googles-wi-fi-sniffing-debacle http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2012-05/03/googles-wi-fi...
    - 13y ago

Did you even read what this does? It's used to aid geopositioning. No data from the network is logged, other than its SSID/MAC address and its approximate location.

bananas 13y ago

Yes I understand it entirely. There are enough AP's around me for Apple Maps to know if I'm in bed or having a poo. You can see the marker move. More services like this are bad. They already know who I am. What could possibly go wrong? Edit: when I say more services are bad like this I mean we should be opt-in for both collection and usage rather than opt out.

oconnore 13y ago
That problem is entirely due to you choosing to run Google/Apple software on a network attached computer that you carry with you everywhere (even, apparently, to poo). Mapping the source of radio signals is common and expected. Your Wifi router is basically a big bright lightbulb that flashes with a unique pattern, and can be seen through walls. You can't legitimately ask the rest of the world not to notice it, the same way you can't request that no one use your porch light as a landmark.
- droopybuns 13y ago
  No. It shouldn't be expected that a $410b market cap company is out mapping this data and selling it to advertisers. Just because you can, doesn't mean you should. Not a trustworthy company.
davepage 13y ago
There is a funny bump on the side of your toy called a power button. Perhaps you could too could learn the joy of silence?

Cthulhu_ 13y ago

> No data from the network is logged Nowadays it shouldn't, no, but Google's had some lawsuits where their Streetview cars accidentally scooped up random bits of data crossing over the wifi lines. This measure was added afterwards, iirc.

_wmd 13y ago

Except for that one small time in Europe when they "accidentally" captured live traffic en masse.. http://www.bit-tech.net/news/bits/2010/05/17/google-admits-street-view-wifi-sniffing/1 http://www.bit-tech.net/news/bits/2010/05/17/google-admits-s...

yohui 13y ago
What's with the scare quotes? Are you suggesting it was not an accident?
- nieve 13y ago
  You may have missed the bits that came out about the capture going on with the knowledge of some Google employees. Th e original developer has plenty of experience with wifi data capture and knew exactly what you could do with the data as well as that you didn't need full packet dumps to snag SSIDs. "Google long maintained that the engineer was solely responsible for this aspect of the project, which resulted in official investigations, some still unresolved, in more than a dozen countries. But a complete version of the F.C.C.’s report, released by Google on Saturday, has cast doubt on that explanation, saying that the engineer informed at least one superior and that seven engineers who worked on the code were all in a position to know what was going on." - http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/01/technology/engineer-in-googles-street-view-is-identified.html http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/01/technology/engineer-in-goo...
eli 13y ago
I don't think "en masse" is a fair way to describe a handful of stray packets per AP as the car drove by.
- scott_karana 13y ago
  200 GB is a "handful"? http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2012-05/03/googles-wi-fi-sniffing-debacle http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2012-05/03/googles-wi-fi...
  - 13y ago