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Google's South Korean Offices Raided
lee1 writes "The Seoul police raided Google's office in Seoul, S. Korea today on suspicion that they have illegally collected users' location data, without consent, for advertising purposes. Google claims to be cooperating with the investigation."
Zerg Rush!
Annual Korean raid, eh?
Fuck systemd. Fuck Redhat. Fuck Soylent, too. Wait, scratch the last one.
I doubt Google would store anything 'illegal' on a South Korean server.. unless they're trying to hide it from the EU, Chinese, or American prosecutors.
For justice, we must go to Don Corleone
GOoGLE just needed more test subjects. For science.
At the local PC bang playing starcraft/broodwar?
# (/.);;
- : float -> float -> float =
About time too!
A (shorter) AP report is here.
... are about to belong to South Korea's finest. If your location data was safe with Google before, it belongs to the government now! :D
So... any guess as to whom the police be looking for that makes it worth raiding a Google office to bring down? Do the South Koreans even have their own version of mafia / yakuza / etc.?
Don't be evil.
Part of the motto is that you should also not give the perception of being evil. A mirror evaluation goes a long way in this respect.
Kriston
The raid continued for 40 minutes. As the law enforcement agents moved forward in the massive compound of Google's, the office manager tried to shield the server with an iPad. But he was soon taken into custody.
Well seriously, what did they expect? The top Starcraft players are not OK with Google's real life maphacking. South Korea isn't gonna put up with that crap.
Fear is the mind killer.
What is going these days? People suing over location information, others running to buy tinfoil to make hats (and we know where you go to buy it) thinking there is this great conspiracy to know each individuals whereabouts in practical real time.
Are we all terrorists? Are we all so important that we need to hide from stalkers and three letter agencies? a very large portion of the population of this planet is not that important.
I appreciate privacy. I love my 4th amendment rights and I would not want any illegal use of data that would cause me harm including location data. If we are so consumed about this issue then lets get our representatives to enact laws to stop this practice. Require an "Opt In", not an "Opt Out". So we get Google and Apple to stop collecting data; that wont stop you from being tracked. Credit card receipts, security cameras, cell tower triangulation, the list is long on ways people and governments can figure out where you've been and what you've been doing. Want off the grid? Live in a forest and make it all yourself. Not my cup of tea.
There are ways to deal with this other then extreme, over the top methods like invading offices overseas or 50 million dollar suits (please...grow up). Like others have said, pull the battery, turn off a feature, write to the company and tell them to stop, but in the end, you bought into it. Me? I still carry a dumb phone, mainly use maps, and don't blab about every minutia of my life on the web. I may get a smartphone one day, I may rely on GPS systems one day, but when I do, the last thing I will worry about is whether Google or Apple or RIM or whom ever is saving my location. What I will get pissed about is if they sell that data and its used in a way that provides for illegal activity by people or governments against me or other people. That is facilitation of a crime and that should be dealt with firmly.
Life is a great ride, the vehicle doesn't matter
I'm hesitating between a "zerg rush" joke and a "I'm in ur server checking your illegally collected data" one.
A group of soldiers pointing AK47's at you tends to elicit that response.
I work for the Department of Redundancy Department.
South Korean officials anticipated that Google would be able to retrieve their seized servers following a complete review of the contents by Samsung.
Koreans tend to be xenophobic dickheads.
"The average reporter we talk to is 27 years old......They literally know nothing." - Ben Rhodes
What the fuck are you on that makes you think this was funny?
Comment removed based on user account deletion
They will raid for them for the exact thing they would do if they could get away with it.
Im sure they are co-operating because in korea, Im the sure the government isnt giving them any choice. Co-operation is probablly somewhere along the lines of having a gun pointed to your head and you doing what they say. Hey it works in america when your accused of doing something, they break in your house point guns at you and take anything they think is evidence to prove your guilty despite up till that point your not technically guilty of anything for sure, its just assumed you are. Look at the guy who had his house smashed in by fbi, thrown down stairs and guns put in his face because they assumed he downloaded childporn, in the fact he didnt.
Sorry, but I can't help laughing at your face America. When Apple got caught of secretly collecting their users' location data, there was essentially no official reaction in the US – just a few disappointed blog posts and maybe some class action lawsuits that could see some fruit .. at some point in the 2020s?
But, in Soviet Korea, when the State learns of Google stealing its citizens' data, they put on their uniforms and raid their office, and are not ashamed to put an end to this criminal activity. They are simply doing what our Government should be doing instead of licking the corporate buttcrack: protecting the citizens' privacy!
And all the time the news from Korea are full of Obama & Hillary bashing them and spreading FUD about an alleged WMDs program and other made-up b*llshit. But in the end, whatever you think about their Great Leader, Korea at least has a good reason to be proud of its socialism when it comes to protecting its citizens from corporate supremacism.
Yearly "Shakedown" for donations? Or it could just be that the Korean government doesn't like the competition.
did they get a hold on Google's secret search formulas?
If Pandora's box is destined to be opened, *I* want to be the one to open it.
Hours later, SMPA investigators also conducted a surprise raid on the headquarters of local portal site Daum on similar suspicions. The investigators confiscated hard drives and other documents during their raid on Daum's Seoul office in Hannam-dong, central Seoul.
http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/national/2011/05/03/28/0302000000AEN20110503005600315F.HTML
.. like it should be everywhere else to be quite honest.
To put it bluntly, collecting personal data that isn't necessary is illegal in Korea
Not sure why so many people seem to be suggesting that Google (or any other company) should be collect all sorts of data at will.
... or they'd know that location tracking is strictly opt-in. The default is off, and the user is EXPLICITLY asked during setup whether they want to enable it.
In this case I think we will find that the cause for this raid is the same as always. It's subsidized by Google's competition. It's about making Google look evil.
Help stamp out iliturcy.
Since Google are co-operating with the investigation and providing information of their activities, then they're in the green area. You don't have to worry, if you're a good citizen, of course. But, if you were a jerk and start doing bad things like drugs/crimes and Google have the same tools used by Apple to track your location, then things should be useful to help officials get things on you.
But, but, Steve Jobs said! And then two women sued! And then Verizon added warning stickers, even though the warnings are about VERIZON having your location data, not Google. There's so much smoke, surely there's fire! And now that South Korea has done it, there's even more smoke. So now there will be congressional hearings, again.
Once you get big enough, you make an easy target.