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Report Finds Google Supervisors Knew About Wi-Fi Data Harvesting
bonch writes "According to the FCC report, Google's collection of Street View data was not the unauthorized act of a rogue engineer, as Google had portrayed it, but an authorized program known to supervisors and at least seven other engineers. The original proposal contradicts Google's claim that there was no intent to gather payload data: 'We are logging user traffic along with sufficient data to precisely triangulate their position at a given time, along with information about what they were doing.'"
It's an ethics issue.
I guess if you're okay with the idea of Google secretly gathering people's emails and passwords for three years "accidentally", then this article isn't going to do much to persuade you.
Can I use a sensitive scientific microphone aimed at the front window of your house and record everything going on inside?
Not my fault you publicly broadcasted those sound waves.
At some point, there is an expectation of privacy. Wi-fi technology is confusing to people, and they don't understand how to protect them, which is unfortunate, but it's not an excuse for someone else to do whatever they want with their emails, passwords, and other private information. Honestly, if this was any other company, there would be more outrage in the comments.