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[Nickbat]

You thought they were only collecting photos...
 
Google has admitted to collecting emails and passwords from unsecured WiFi connections 

Apparently, "...Google had "accidentally" grabbed data from unsecured hotspots for years as its Street View cars captured images of street scenes."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-11614970

 

Glad I don't have a WiFi connection, just a good old fashioned hard-wired router.

[tunnie]

serves the numptys right who leave their network un-secured

[aaronjb]

serves the numptys right who leave their network un-secured

Exactly.

[redelitev6]

serves the numptys right who leave their network un-secured

Exactly.

a few years ago we would tell our eldest to turn off the laptop at about 10.30pm and get to bed, and we used to turn off the wireless router thinking that was that, took us a while to realise she was hooking up with next doors unsecure connection and spending hours talking to her mates on msn,crafty little tinker!

[aaronjb]

I reckon it's a good job the Internet hadn't really taken off when I was at school (it was just starting to by the time I left, really) .. I'd never have left the house and certainly would have bombed out of school even earlier than I did 

[Mr Skrunts]

serves the numptys right who leave their network un-secured

Exactly.

Hang on a min, I agree they are in the wrong, but grabbing data whilst roaming the roads has got to be a data protection nono that was done with intent.  Sorry, but Google are way out of order. 

A lot of people jump on the band wagon regards thier privacy, but at least dont expect to have it collected in this manner. :-/

[Richgm]

People should understand how much info they have on a PC and that there are some people out there that make a living by stealing that information. Plus the paedophiles and other lowlife that use other peoples connections to partake in illegal activities.
What Google did may have been wrong but, if you leave your front door wide open someone is going to come along and rob you one day.

[Chris_H]

I fail to see how you could accidentally collect this info.

[aaronjb]

I fail to see how you could accidentally collect this info.

Easily.

They were scanning for SSIDs to geocache wifi signals (which, I'm pretty sure, was written about somewhere on one of their blogs) - their mechanism for this involved capturing packets 'off the air'.

If you're unencrypted, random packets will contain random data.. like anything you send over the web, email, and so on - like your usernames and passwords (a surprising amount of which, you'll find, are sent 'in the clear' rather than encrypted - personally I'd be more worried about that than Google)

[Chris_H]

I fail to see how you could accidentally collect this info.

Easily.

They were scanning for SSIDs to geocache wifi signals (which, I'm pretty sure, was written about somewhere on one of their blogs) - their mechanism for this involved capturing packets 'off the air'.

If you're unencrypted, random packets will contain random data.. like anything you send over the web, email, and so on - like your usernames and passwords (a surprising amount of which, you'll find, are sent 'in the clear' rather than encrypted - personally I'd be more worried about that than Google)

That's not quite an accident then.

[aaronjb]

 :-?

They were purposely mapping SSIDs. They accidentally captured other information they did not intend to.

So.. accidentally.

[Mr Skrunts]

I fail to see how you could accidentally collect this info.

Easily.

They were scanning for SSIDs to geocache wifi signals (which, I'm pretty sure, was written about somewhere on one of their blogs) - their mechanism for this involved capturing packets 'off the air'.

If you're unencrypted, random packets will contain random data.. like anything you send over the web, email, and so on - like your usernames and passwords (a surprising amount of which, you'll find, are sent 'in the clear' rather than encrypted - personally I'd be more worried about that than Google)

So forgive me if I am wrong here, Passwords and email details were accidently captured.

So you mean they didnt do any testing of equipment and the goverments arround the world gave them a green light.

MMmmmm   Maybe this was all intentional, the government turned a blind eye as they have plenty to gain from this, and OOP's they got found out doing it.  Sorry, cover it all you want, should never ever ever have happened.

[aaronjb]

When was the government involved in all this?  :-?

Tin foil hats, ahoy!

[Dishevelled Den]

Glad I don't have a WiFi connection, just a good old fashioned hard-wired router.

I quite agree Nick. 

BT recently installed a 'Home Hub' when I moved over to their 'Infinity' service.  The fitter wanted to enable the wireless function but I declined this preferring the wired option instead.

[Dishevelled Den]

I fail to see how you could accidentally collect this info.

I'm afraid that I have to agree with you Chris - if not accidental, Google showed a wilful or at the very least reckless disregard for the privacy of others. (As shown with their street view service and by their information collecting activities on the internet)

The pre-eminent position of Google in the information gathering field - how they achieved that, how it's maintained and what they do with the information - makes it a very dangerous group indeed.