Street View cars mistakenly nabs personal data over open WiFi networks, says Google
By Ross Miller 
posted May 14th 2010 7:51PM
posted May 14th 2010 7:51PM
Offering an open apology, he reassured that this affected only open networks and, given the cars being "constantly on the move," only fragments of data were collected -- fragments that he says were never looked at or even noticed until the audit. Plans are currently in action to remove the extraneous info -- "we want to delete this data as soon as possible, and are currently reaching out to regulators in the relevant countries about how to quickly dispose of it." Additionally, all affected Street View cars have been grounded, so that great idea you had about dressing up as a Power Ranger and getting yourself a spot in Google Maps coordinates? Looks like that loss of privacy might've afforded you some extra time to paint the helmet.
Thats why you don't give engineers "20%" time to "do whatever they wish". Thats like giving kids the keys to your car, Playboy collection and your love letters to that girlfriend you have on the side, all in one shot.
@naashak
Because innovation is a shitty idea.
@naashak
Their plans for World Domination just hit a snafu. Non intentional? Come on, who really is buying that? They just got caught.
P.S. I love me some FREE Google products too. Beggars cant be choosers I guess. Gots to take the good with the bad.
@naashak
Don't be evil!
Somehow I'm glad that we germans are so niggling.
"fragments that he says were never looked at or even noticed until the audit" --- Yeah, sure!!!
@FunkieChunkieMunkie
What exactly do you think their plan was with they data they collect from open network connections when passing by with a street view car. Sell it to advertisers looking to target specific houses based on 3 seconds of data from those who have open networks.
@TheGM
Maybe. I'm not as smart as those guys but I do know this, if theirs a penny to be made on any of this, Google is ALL over it. Their is no doubt in my mind what so ever. And, for them to say that they never saw it? Nope, not buying it, sorry.
@naashak
ALERT THE AUTHORITIES, GOOGLE KNOWS MY NETWORK NAME.
Wait, nevermind, I use WPA2 because I'm not an idiot.
@Celeras ZOMG really? Quick everyone, switch to WPA2 it automatically hides your SSID
@TheGM
That's the reason I'm skeptical about theories that Google is using the personal data, there's just not enough of it to be much use (basically if you wanted to collect useful personal data, you wouldn't do it in a moving vehicle; Google is already collecting personal data just from you using their services which is much easier/legal). The SSID and Mac address is the most useful part of the Wi-Fi signal because it allows you to use it for location tracking.
@nigra Or you can choose not to broadcast your SSID.
@FunkieChunkieMunkie
Only their, they're, there you wanted was "there".
@DBG Exactly.
@SeeKo Yeah, we accidentally put experimental data mining code into vehicles that would be driving everywhere i the US. I totally buy it.
Google is dumb... They didn't need to drive around the world collecting this information, they could have simply added the facebook social networking plugin to their page. Think of the gas money they would have saved!!!
@iep Exactly what i said yesterday on anotjer google related post...but commenters were like:it's not googles fault, it's the governments because they request google to disclose data about their users
@TheGM
You know they drove by a few select people's houses more than once.
coughSteveJobsSteveBallmercough
They passed up Ruby though. Obviously.
@zeal If Jobs and Balmer have their home wifi networks unsecured they deserve to have their data mined.
@DBG Google street view could be fun, and it depends on the person who's viewing it. Reactions- http://j.mp/google-street-view-canary
"constantly on the movie"...Yo, whats the name of this "movie", so i can download it. :)
I really don't buy the "mistakenly" put in BS that the guy is peddling. This is production code they are talking about not some beta crap. And isn't Google all sorts of oh-so-we-have-coding-standards-and-audits hoity-toity?
Seems to be they had the code for data mining purposes, got caught and now they are looking for some low-level peon to scapegoat. I guess this engineer will end up in the same dungeon cell as the Apple engineer who lost the iPhone proto.
@naashak It's Google; of course it's Beta.
@naashak
Or maybe some engineer misread/misunderstood the requirements (written or verbal - not sure what they have their for their design docs) and put the wrong piece of code into the repository.
There isn't a conspiracy in everything. Although if Google could make money off of your public (keyword: PUBLIC) connection, I'm sure they would.
Wow - that's gonna cost them some PR time down the line.
...Maybe more?
Google, stop messing around with people's privacy dammit! Don't be evil my ass!
@Eli Haj
I bet 90% of people have no idea how to add security to there network. My brother called the Geek Squad and paid $200 to add security and "clean up the computer". Most people do not know how to do the things we think are "no brainers".
@Eli Haj
Basically what you are saying is, when you don't lock the front door of your house and you get robbed, it's not the robbers to blame?
@SeeKo No, he's saying that when you yell on a crowded street, it's not the eavesdropper's fault he heard you.
@SeeKo
No, its not. (Entirely anyway) Same concept applies if you leave your keys in your car and it gets stolen. Yes the thieves are in the wrong, but its simple things (locking the doors, taking your keys with you) that could prevent the theft in the first place.
Besides, no insurance company pay out when they learned that you didn't take the proper precautions.
@PBB, your analogy is also incorrect. Leaving your WiFi unsecured is like yelling across an open space.
@Volatile
Seconded... I love me some YouTube, Facebook, Gmail, and everything else that Google owns... But really, where did all the privacy go?
Maybe I'm misunderstanding the post, but if it says what I think it says, I would actually applaud Google for this.
How many companies do you know that, after learning they did something like this, would publicly announce it? I mean, most companies would probably erase all evidence of this for fear of the bad press. These guys however, not only owned up to what they did, they issued an official apology. No one "caught" them for this, they could've totally gotten away. But they didn't.
Like I said, maybe I misunderstand. But if I'm not, then I say more companies should look to them as an example (of course it's better not the make the mistake in the first place, but how you treat the mistake is what makes this the right choice).
@Henzapper Actually now that I read more carefully, I'm seeing the audit by the DPA. I don't really understand what this means, but if it means what I think it does, I really did misunderstand in my first post. If so, sorry about that. Ignore everything I said up there.
@Henzapper
You do realize this only came out after a DPA audit. It somehow never came out during the numerous internal audits Google does for its code. Lets not get all mushy on how they are such nice guys for admitting what they shouldn't have done in the first place.
@Henzapper Exactly, the request for information was from the Data Protection Authority in Hamburg, Germany, where the Street View product has been under attack from privacy advocates.
@Henzapper
You need to know that the Google Street View Project is under extreme pressure here in Germany. They didn't have a single piece of positive press since the cars started rolling and the government is really on to them for privacy violations. Google is trying all different angles to cover the legal ground to get this service working here. So this news must be like a kick in the balls for them. The official apology is only the least of damage control or this project will die in Germany forever.
@Volatile
Oops, my bad.
- Love, Google
The secrets of your porn collection are now google's.
@jellotime91
Facebook is not Google
Bah Hambug!
err... I mean HambuRg, close enough
So yeah on the movie, but no one mentions "Hambug" Germany?
@jellotime91
the privacy went with your lack of WiFi encryption
I think the key factor here is "OPEN" non-password protected WiFi.. I mean come on.. you deserve your data to be stolen!!! Or DONT OWN A WIFI ROUTER!
@cpg716
Yeah, tell that to my parents who still have a VCR next to the Widescreen 46" LCD. yet buy Laptops to check email from the patio.
90% of the people dont know how to set up a secure wifi point. Its a small box you buy at Walmart for $40, doesn't mean you have to present a geek card at checkout.
If someone's that interested in my browsing habits, then go ahead.
@Xcelerate Nobody is. ;)
@jayayess1190 Exactly! Which is why I'm sort of confused why everyone's worried about privacy. Other than credit card or bank account information, I don't see what the big deal is.
Ahhh, so it was 2006 when Google added the script of Superman 3 to the index.
Don't be evil my ass.
That's the cool thing about being a really big company - you get the chance to make really *big* mistakes. Hopefully, the big screwups don't result in massive casualties (though I think BP is crossing the line there with their oil spill).