Google To Allow Location Service Opt-out

TripleP writes "In a kind gesture from Google, they're allowing wireless AP owners to opt out of their location service. You only have to change your SSID to include '_nomap' as a suffix. Is it just me, or should this 'service' be an explicit opt-in?"

Comments

you dont opt in to webcrawling

[lemur3]

you use a special robots.txt file to opt out of websurfing.. why should this be any different?

Re:you dont opt in to webcrawling

[Lost Found]

I basically agree with your point aside from the fact that you don't have to change your domain name to add a _norobots.com suffix in order to opt out of web crawling.

For Facebook and Google+

[klingens]

Everyone who doesn't want to get tracked by Facebook please change his name to Joe_NoFacebook Smith. Everyone who doesn't want to get tracked by Google +, add a "noPlus" instead. And everyone who doesn't want to get tagged by the Facebook picture recognition will please use a neon green colored "F" tattoo on their forehead.

Thank you for your cooperation.

Is anyone at Google still thinking anything? Do no Evil my ass.

If you don't want your SSID to be mappable

[samael]

Then don't broadcast it!

They aren't doing any snooping on your private data here, just noting where different SSIDs are broadcasting. Unless your SSID name consists of your name, DOB, mother's maiden name, etc. you have nothing to worry about.

Re:If you don't want your SSID to be mappable

[samael]

But it's not. Nobody can look on a map and see your name, If they're standing by your house and can receive the signal then they can tell where they are, but that's all.

(Unless Google are now publishing the complete lookup table, in which case I feel somewhat different.)

Opt-in

[C_Kode]

Everything should be opt-in. Never opt-out.

Re:Opt-in

[Anonymous Coward]

He won't answer that because you didn't give him permission to.

Why do you care?

[Manip]

While it is nice of Google to offer this, I don't really understand why people care. The SID was always public information as are the location of the AP. So to then turn around and accuse Google of invade your privacy by recording what essentially you've told your AP to shout from the rooftops seems a little contradictory to me. It isn't like SIDs are personal or in any way linked to you as an individual or even your surfing activity.

So as I said, nice of Google to do this, but I'd question what anyone who opted out really hopes to accomplish by doing so...

Opt-in is not an option

[mikeplokta]

There's no point saying "It should be opt-in", because it can't possibly work on an opt-in basis. There's no way to get a sufficient number of opted-in wireless access points. The available options are "Opt-out is OK" or "The service shouldn't exist".

Re:Opt-in is not an option

[HarrySquatter]

There's no way to get a sufficient number of opted-in wireless access points.

Boohoo? Since when is that information owed to Google?

I don't really mind

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't care that much if Google maps my AP. Because if someone is lost out where I am, they're going to need all the help they can get.

Re:What about other mapping systems?

[Nerdfest]

My guess that they didn't make it nogoogle so that Apple and the other mappers can respect it if they wish. Personally, I think broadcasting your SSID is opting in and this is not required.

You are BROADCASTING your SSID.

[IGnatius T Foobar]

Google has every right to use your SSID for geolocation purposes. The privacy whiners all seem to conveniently forget that when you operate a wifi access point, you are BROADCASTING your SSID to anyone within range. It is the same as if you switched on an AM or FM radio transmitter in your home or business and continuously spoke into the microphone: "My network is named kitty-net ... my network is named kitty-net ... my network is named kitty-net ..."

If you don't want something known to anyone within range, you might consider not BROADCASTING it. Every access point in the world has the ability to shut off its SSID announcements.

Re:You are BROADCASTING your SSID.

[Missing.Matter]

Every access point in the world has the ability to shut off its SSID announcements.

If you're not broadcasting your SSID, Google will still map it. If you don't want them to, you'll actually have to broadcast an SSID, and append _nomap to it, since anyone can find your router's MAC address even if you're not broadcasting your SSID.

Re:Considering the value to society...

[Eponymous Coward]

You have the right answer. Nobody seems to think about the greater good any more. Large corporations and governments already have access to all of this data. Google is just making it available for regular people in an incredibly useful way. It's perfectly valid to have problems with this, but don't ignore the benefits as well.

Publically broadcasted info

[Nanosphere]

My SSID is:

Nanosphere'); Drop
Table SSIDs;--

The SSID isn't actually used by the service

[kakris]

Just to clarify what seems to confuse some people here, the actual service doesn't use the SSID for location, it uses the MAC address. They're using the SSID to allow you to opt out, but when someone submits WIFI info for location, they're sending the mac address of the station, not the SSID. MAC addresses are unique (or at least they're supposed to be. I'm looking at you Shanzai.) SSIDs are not unique. If they used SSIDs, you'd never be able to figure out where "linksys" or "netgear" actually are.