Data Engineer In Google Case Is Identified

theodp writes "Meet Engineer Doe. A NY Times report has identified Marius Milner as the software engineer at the center of the uproar over a Google project that used Wi-Fi sniffing Google Street View cars to collect e-mail and other personal data from potentially millions of unsuspecting people. Milner, creator of the wardriving software NetStumbler, referred questions to his lawyer. Google declined to comment. A patent search shows the USPTO awarded Google and Milner a patent in June 2011 for protecting Internet users from 'hackers and other ne'er-do-wells [who] may seek to tap into communications on a network.'"

Comments

ftfy

[girlintraining]

Data Engineer In Google Case Is Identified

Fall Guy In Google Case Is Identified.
FTFY

Re:If you have something that you don't want

[SaroDarksbane]

If you have something that you don't want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn't be doing it in the first place.

Or in this case, if you have something that you don't want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn't be broadcasting it over the airwaves to the public at large.

Just a thought.

Doesn't seem to be a "rogue employee"

[aclarke]

Here's a choice tidbit from the article:

Google long maintained that the engineer was solely responsible for this aspect of the project, which resulted in official investigations, some still unresolved, in more than a dozen countries. But a complete version of the F.C.C.’s report, released by Google on Saturday, has cast doubt on that explanation, saying that the engineer informed at least one superior and that seven engineers who worked on the code were all in a position to know what was going on.

The F.C.C. report also had Engineer Doe spelling out his intentions quite clearly in his initial proposal. Managers of the Street View project said they never read it.

Depicting his actions as the work of a rogue “requires putting a lot of dots together,” Mr. Milner said enigmatically Sunday before insisting again he had no comment. He said he was closely following the news reports on the issue.

If that's all to be believed, Milner reported on what he was doing, and sent it to his boss(es). They opted to "not read" the report. If at least six other engineers were in a position to know, then this sounds more like a "no, don't put this in writing or tell us what you're doing" situation than a rogue employee. If bosses aren't responsible for their employees, what are they there for?

Re:Doesn't seem to be a "rogue employee"

[girlintraining]

If bosses aren't responsible for their employees, what are they there for?

To provide individual profit without individual responsibility. Unless, of course, profit is threatened, in which case sacrificing an individual is a reasonable response. See also: The reason most people over the age of 30 are fired. I can't tell you how many times I've heard someone blubber "But I did what they asked me to..." on the way out the door. I've worked corporate jobs long enough to know that when someone asks you to do something you think might backfire, you smile, agree, and work as slowly as possible on the project while working as quickly as possible at finding another job and getting your name off the reports. Corporations will not hesitate to throw their employees under the bus -- afterall, it's not like you're unique or important... there's fifty more just like you a phone call away.

That is the raisin de etre for a corporation: Individual profit without individual responsibility.

Re:If you have something that you don't want

[timholman]

They didn't "go into" the network. They collected data that was floating on the airwaves around them. The proper analogy isn't with walking into an open door, but taking a photo through an open window. From the street.

Actually, it's more like putting a speaker outside your house, then playing personal information over it for anyone driving down the street to hear, and then getting angry that someone had the gall to record the audio that you were broadcasting to the world at large.

Re:If you have something that you don't want

[X0563511]

I don't think you understand how radio works. It's like sound.

Your neighbor blares his stereo? Well, you can hear his music because of that.

You blare your unencrypted data? Well, I can read it.