My Location the Next Google Privacy Controversy?

theodp writes "While Google boasts one of its Privacy Principles is making the collection of personal information transparent, even techies are left guessing about what's going on behind the scenes of certain products. The American Dictator points out that Google's Wi-Fi collection efforts don't stop with its Street View cars, offering up this explanation of Google's My Location: 'When you allow Google to "know your location," what you are really agreeing to is to send to Google's computers your Wi-Fi environment — not only the name of the Wi-Fi hotspot you are logged into, but also the names and signal strengths of every Wi-Fi hotspot around you. In other words, the same things that those Google Street View cars were sucking up as they drove by your house.' So, will changes in privacy attitude prompt changes in Latitude?"

Comments

OP is confused...

[Manip]

The recent privacy controversy was never about Google detecting and recording the names, unique IDs, and signal strength of local WiFi hotspots -- It was about Google mistakenly recording traffic, including unencrypted information that anyone could easily utilise.

In addition to that, there are only four ways to locate someone connected to the Internet:
  - GeoIP which can perhaps pin you down to a city, perhaps even a town,
  - WiFi triangulation which can pin you down to within a few metres
  - Latency triangulation which is frankly uncompletely unworkable on something as complex as the internet
  - IP->Postal Address Mapping (Read: ISP's database)

Obviously only two of these are workable for someone like Google and GoeIP is completely inaccurate. No ISP is going to give Google access to their address database.

Re:Not unusual

[0100010001010011]

Skyhook wireless is one major one. It's what the iPod Touch and original iPhone used. It's what Snow Leopard / Location services uses.

You do get a popup asking if you want to enable it.

Re:Google already does this - sort of

[QBasicer]

I guess I don't mean that iPhone doesn't have wifi location - it's the provider of that information. Last I checked it was Skyhook who provided the data, not Google. Maybe the iPhone collects and aggregates the information in a similar fashion, but they don't share data back and forth. My phone knew where my old apartment was by wifi, but my iPod touch had no clue. In fact, my phone (WinMo) knew where I was everywhere in the city without ever turning on GPS, but, once again, my iPod had no idea.