Google Broke the Law, Say South Korean Police

bonch writes "South Korean police say Google was in violation of Internet privacy laws when its Street View service archived private information in more than 30 countries, including email and text messages. The country's Cyber Terror Response Center broke the encryption on hard drives raided from Google last August and confirmed that private information had been gathered, violating South Korea's telecommunications laws. Police are seeking the original author of the program, though they say it is likely to be a US citizen. Google said it stopped collecting the information as soon as it realized what was happening. 40 states in the US are demanding access to the information gathered by the mapping service in order to determine what was archived, which Google refused to hand over. 'We have been cooperating with the Korean Communications Commission and the police, and will continue to do so,' said a Google Korea spokesperson."

Comments

Before someone gives the reductionist answer

[Compaqt]

that all Giggle was doing was recording aspects of the electromagnetic spectrum that was hitting their equipment:

What's the limit to that?

Is it also OK to record faint sound waves emitted from a given StreetView address?

Is it also OK to record GSM cell phone transmissions (recently shown vulnerable to cracking)?

Is it also OK to set up a listening device to log the electromagnetic signature emitted by monitors and keyboards, and then associate that with a given StreetView address in your database?

Would it also be OK to use a high-power lens to record photons leaking beyond a window that you thought you had pulled the curtain on?

Would it also be OK to record infrared heat signatures of building occupants walking around or doing whatever?

And if a "normal" person (not a corporation with cute logo) did all this, wouldn't he be arrested for stalking?

Re:Before someone gives the reductionist answer

[commodore64_love]

A reasonable limit might be to disallow recording of any sound (or sight) that is not detectable by human ears/eyes.

So if the sound is below, say, 10 dB then it would be forbidden by private persons/companies to record it. Or if the EM captured is below 50 lux(?) that too would be forbidden to record. That would stop them from using super-sensitive equipment to hear conversations in the kitchen, or take a peak into darkened bedrooms.

Re:I wonder who they forgot to bribe?

[lexidation]

Where exactly does the dividing line between "spends millions on lobbying and campaign contributions" and "bribes politicians outright" get drawn? I don't mean this as a rhetorical question. It seems to me there's something broken in the system, something which will never get fixed because it underwrites the ambitions of the people in power.

Re:I wonder who they forgot to bribe?

[commodore64_love]

The downfall of the Athenian Empire alone proves that pure democracy (as you propose in your letter) is a bad idea.

Pure democracy can also be called "tyranny of the majority" as the minority voice is drowned-out. Or worse: Crushed. Just ask the Americans that were imprisoned during World War 2, simply because the majority decided they did not like the minority who looked different (i.e. asian). The purpose of a Republic is to have a Supreme Law that protects the minority from such abuses, and which no one, ideally, can remove by a simple 51% vote. The Law of Individual Rights reigns supreme even above the government or its representatives, and can not be revoked.

It isn't a perfect system, but it's certainly much better than a Democracy. Socrates was killed with a simply 51% vote. No trial; no lawyers; nothing to protect his right to speak his mind. The Demos killed him because they didn't like him. That's what a democracy gives you.

Re:I wonder who they forgot to bribe?

[beerbear]

Right now your voice is being drowned-out by a minority with money.

Re:I wonder who they forgot to bribe?

[commodore64_love]

IMHO this all boils down to various Governments wanting to maintain their MONOPOLY on the right to spy. Take the example of Britain where Google got in trouble because their CameraCar caught somebody's wash hanging outside. First off Google did nothing wrong - if you have your undies in view of the front street, then you're just plain stupid. Second you have no right to forbid Google or Me or anybody else from photographing it.

But the UK government decided otherwise, ordered google to erase the undies image, and fined them. Meanwhile that same UK government has cameras installed on every fucking street that are capturing everything from Undies hanging in front yards to... well, fucking.

But that's okay. It's okay for the Government to maintain its Monopoly to spy on us.
Google and other private photographers get slapped down; but the government invades our privacy every day.