NNSquad - Network Neutrality Squad
[ NNSquad ] The Pyrrhic Wi-Fi Victory of Google's Adversaries
The Pyrrhic Wi-Fi Victory of Google's Adversaries
http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000772.html
Greetings. With much fanfare, sites around the Net have trumpeted
word that Google is no longer collecting Wi-Fi location data via
their Street View vehicles ( http://bit.ly/9Bc8Tr [Digital Trends] ) --
in the same breath usually emphasizing the continuing controversy over
Google's accidental collection of Wi-Fi payload data (an overblown
story that I've previously discussed ("Highly Illogical": The
Hysteria Over Google's Wi-Fi Scanning - http://bit.ly/9680wb [Lauren's
Blog] ).
The various parties who condemned Google either for collecting Wi-Fi
location data alone, and/or for the inadvertent (and self-reported)
collection of associated payload data, are now presumably patting
themselves on their backs, oh so proud of putting "Big Bad Google" in
its place.
What these groups have actually achieved is causing Google, the firm
that has been in the most effective position to process *openly
broadcast* Wi-Fi beacon location data for the public good, to be
threatened out of providing an extremely useful service for the public
at large.
Meanwhile, all those Wi-Fi hotspots are still out there. You can
drive down the street with virtually any laptop (or many phones) and
plot the Wi-Fi hubs in their multitudes.
And if you're so inclined, you can also gather the payload data from
the many open, unsecured Wi-Fi networks -- perhaps purposely and with
genuinely evil intent. This in stark contrast to accidental payload
data collection -- the data never to be exploited or abused -- as was
the case with Google.
Software to capture Wi-Fi payload data is all over the Net. Even the
makers of the wonderful (and inexpensive) little "Chumby Internet
appliance" posted code for using the Chumby to "sniff" and display
captured Wi-Fi packets ( http://bit.ly/93HWhl [bunnie:studios] ).
Now obviously, the Chumby folks weren't suggesting that such
capabilities should be used for illicit purposes. And that's a key
point -- not only is it easy to capture open Wi-Fi data, but there are
completely legitimate testing-related reasons to do so -- essentially
the situation that led to Google's accidental wider collection of such
data.
There are of course some hotheads and conspiracy theorists who are
still convinced that Google was purposely collecting Wi-Fi payload
data, had a secret plan to earn vast profits from that data, and
perhaps also operates a kitten-crushing facility at the Googleplex.
There's no point in arguing with such folks -- it's like trying to
carry on an intelligent conversation with a bag of marshmallows.
But when you do travel from place to place, don't forget those vast
numbers of unprotected Wi-Fi signals permeating the air around you --
that can continue to be criminally exploited by crooks -- but will no
longer be useful to society at large via legitimate Google-based
services.
Score one for the blockheads.
--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein (lauren@vortex.com)
http://www.vortex.com/lauren
Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800
Co-Founder, PFIR (People For Internet Responsibility): http://www.pfir.org
Co-Founder, NNSquad (Network Neutrality Squad): http://www.nnsquad.org
Founder, GCTIP (Global Coalition for Transparent Internet Performance):
http://www.gctip.org
Founder, PRIVACY Forum: http://www.vortex.com
Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/laurenweinstein
Google Buzz: http://bit.ly/lauren-buzz