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Germany Demands Google Forfeit Citizens' Wi-Fi Data
eldavojohn writes "Germany has ordered Google to give up hard disk drives used to store German data collected during their Street View operations in that country. This follows Google's admission last week (after prodding from the Germans) that it had collected the data from unsecured wireless area networks from around the entire world as its roving cars collected the photo archive for Street View. Google says they've offered to just destroy the data, in cooperation with national regulators, but the German government wants to know what they've collected. They do not think that destroying the drives suffices for compliance with the laws. Officials went so far as to say of the situation, 'It is not acceptable that a company operating in the EU does not respect EU rules.' Germany has certainly been keeping their eye on the search giant." The Ars coverage notes that the US FTC may be looking more closely at Google's collection as well.
There's nothing wrong with laws also giving fines for misusing the unsecured connections and sniffing the traffic in it.
And as it is, it's currently unlawful. You can say that proper security is needed (it is), but the fact is that Google broke laws.
Your home connection to your ISP is also mostly unsecured. Would it be ok for me to tap into that? After all, you weren't using encrypted VPN or encrypted connection to your ISP, so it's only your own fault, right? I didn't think so.
They only wanted one HDD to see what kind of data Google collected, not all of them.
Google is the one that said "Oops, we got this stuff by mistake & are going to delete it as soon as we let everyone know".
If police came knocking on my door and said I'm under investigation for downloading child porn, you think it would be ok for me to say "don't worry, it was a mistake and I'm going to be deleting it soon" and they wouldn't want my computer and hard drives to investigate it?
Besides, German police didn't want all of their data. They wanted one hard drive so they could investigate what Google has done, if they have broken laws and if they should get fines for it, and probably disallowing further scanning. You know, investigation is what law enforcement does when someone has broke the laws.
Hate to say it but if you have an unsecured wireless network you are freely broadcasting your data over the airwaves for anyone to listen. Laws are not the solution to this, proper security is. I can't walk out on my porch and yell sensitive information then fine you for having heard it.
No it's more like doing something private in your living room with your window open and Google coming to your window and recording it.
And yet, if I drive through your neighborhood and write down the time of day everyone leaves and gets home, how many kids they have, you can bet I'd be getting a visit from the police.
On a side note, for a long time cordless phones were completely unsecured, and anyone with a scanner could listen to conversations. The law was very clear - you could listen but never discuss what was being said.
Would a similar law for wireless traffic work? I don't think seeing a wireless network or even using it should be a crime, but recording IP addresses, tracking what ports are open, how many computers are connected, and most importantly, keeping a database of it, could be illegal.
Hate to say it but if you have an unsecured wireless network you are freely broadcasting your data over the airwaves for anyone to listen. Laws are not the solution to this, proper security is. I can't walk out on my porch and yell sensitive information then fine you for having heard it.
Analogies are fun. You could also compare it to going around with an directional mike, recording all conversations you are able to catch, even though they are 'broadcast' from inside houses etc.
But analogies aside, in most Western Europe countries there are privacy laws that regulates systematic aggregation and combination of data, and treats that different than the isolated data points would be. Which is very sensible.