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Australian Police To Investigate Google Over Wi-Fi Scanning

Posted by Soulskill on from the hopping-on-the-bandwagon dept.

daria42 writes "Those who thought the brouhaha over Google's scanning of Wi-Fi networks by its Street View cars was over (whether you believe it was deliberate or not) are destined to be disappointed. News comes from Australia over the weekend that the Australian government has referred the matter to the Australian Federal Police for investigation. The country's Attorney General, Robert McClelland, was quoted saying, 'Obviously I won't pre-empt the outcome of that investigation but they relate in substantial part to possible breaches of the Telecommunications Interception Act, which prevents people accessing electronic information other than for authorized purposes.'"

7 of 117 comments (clear)

  1. give it a rest by v1 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Is this the world's favorite new way to waste time, suing google for recording publicly available information from wifi spots as they drive?

    idiots. ALL idiots.

    --
    I work for the Department of Redundancy Department.
    1. Re:give it a rest by melikamp · · Score: 3, Insightful

      May be they are using this law in order to get access to all of the collected data.

    2. Re:give it a rest by williamhb · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Is this the world's favorite new way to waste time, suing google for recording publicly available information from wifi spots as they drive?

      I hope they prosecute the pants off them. Suppose it wasn't Google but Microsoft. Would you still be happy for them to be intentionally gathering data (be it records of who has which WiFi device or the actual conversations) just because the electromagnetic fields were leaking through your walls? After all, the heat radiation that escapes through your walls and windows is "publicly available" so surely it'd be ok for them to sit outside with a thermal camera pointed at your house. And the sound radiation that leaks through too -- so there'd be "no problem" with them pointing very sensitive directional microphones towards your bedroom window and recording that too... I mean, it's just your own silly fault for not installing a lead-lined cone of silence over your bed...

      No, this is just slashdot giving Google a free pass (Slashdot's Google love-in), even though Google explicitly intended to gather and sell data about you without your permission. Their excuse is "oops, we didn't mean to gather quite that much data" not that they didn't mean to do it at all.

  2. It's Sad... by YodaYid · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ...that as an American, I'm looking to Europe and Australia to actually stand up to Google and stop them from collecting every bit of data they can about me, like actually sending a van outside my house to grab information about my home network.

    1. Re:It's Sad... by zuperduperman · · Score: 3, Insightful

      This is what amazes me about this whole incident. Not one official person (other than from Google) has even once mentioned that people should protect their privacy by putting passwords on their Wifi access points.

      On the radio just today, Stephen Conroy said that Google may have captured people doing "sensitive banking transactions" as they drove past, as if it would be perfectly safe for them if only Google hadn't driven past and captured the data. Overlooking that all banking transactions are done over https, Conroy was effectively advising people that extremely risky behavior is perfectly OK. There is a level of extreme hypocrisy about the whole debate that leads me to believe this is 100% a witch hunt primarily designed to distract from the government's own desire to violate our privacy.

  3. Re:In other news.. by 91degrees · · Score: 3, Insightful

    It's about reasonable expectations. You can reasonably assume that someone nearby has an ear. Maybe even two. You can also reasonably assume that they will be able to hear you if youtalk at normal volume.

    You would not normally be listening with an electronic listening and recording device, or a laser microphone (which simply detects publicly visible vibrations), or climbing a tree in a public area purely in order to see you naked in your back yard.

    Likewise, you don't expect people to be arbitrarily scanning for wireless data.

    If you're a mutant that can, without any additional equipment, detect wi-fi signals, then you shouldn't be prosecuted, but I'm sure that isn't a requirement for being hired by Google.

  4. Re:In other news.. by Sabriel · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Likewise, you don't expect people to be arbitrarily scanning for wireless data.

    Actually, I do expect people to be arbitrarily scanning for wireless data. ECHELON aside, radio scanners have been publicly available for many years in Australia.