FCC Wants To Fine Google $25K For WiFi Investigation

Posted by samzenpus on Sunday April 15, 2012 @06:32AM from the dragging-your-feet dept.

An anonymous reader writes "It's good and bad news for Google. The FCC has ruled that Google did nothing wrong when it accidentally collected WiFi data with its Street View cars: '[The FCC] concluded that there was no precedent for the commissions' enforcement of the law in connection with WiFi networks. The FCC also noted that, according to the available evidence, Google only collected data from unencrypted WiFi networks, not encrypted ones, and that it never accessed or used the data.' However, they want to fine the company $25,000 because it 'deliberately impeded and delayed the investigation.'"

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Also known as by bobwrit · 2012-04-15 06:35 · Score: 4, Informative

"Hey, our budget could very well get cut soon. Let's fine people for things!" That's what I suspect the FCC's reasoning is. They just wont admit it.

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Re:Google's excuse is a bit weak... by slimjim8094 · 2012-04-15 07:43 · Score: 5, Informative

Even better than that, traffic logging is on by default in Kismet, the software they were using. It's more like they forgot to switch the option off.

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