Google Street View cars broke laws, says Canadian privacy commissioner

Google's camera-carrying Street View cars broke Canadian privacy laws when they carelessly collected personal information while driving down the street, says the federal privacy commissioner.


The Street View cars, which are supposed to only take pictures, have been collecting e-mail addresses, passwords, names, health details and phone numbers, according to a story by the CBC. The cars apparently got the information from unencrypted household Wi-Fi networks. How they could do so unintentionally remains unclear.


"This incident was a serious violation of Canadians' privacy rights," privacy commissioner, Jennifer Stoddart, told the CBC.


She has given Google until Feb. 1 to delete the data. If that happens, there would be no further consequences.

http://autos.sympatico.ca/automotiv...broke-laws-says-canadian-privacy-commissioner

 

I remember the day that sonuvabitch drove down my street:sombrero:.

How could they mistakingly pilfer and record and collect such stuff.

This reminds me of a website my friend knows of, you can literally type in anyones name and find them, he found shit on his mom and him and his grandma and other people so the info is definitely out there, the general population is sheltered and... iduno AHHHHHH:willy_nilly:!!!

 

^^ I will get that site from him immediately asap asap and post asap

 

they drove by on a day I had cut the lawn

 

One drove right past me one day when I was on my bike. I got all paranoid and turned my head away so that it wouldn't see my face.

 

How does wi-fi work?
If you have an unencrypted computer what would you have to do to hack into the computer?
Is it passive or active?
If it is passive it isn't intentionally hacking is it?

I have a feeling peoples medical records are not floating around waiting for anybody to pick them up...it sounds like you would have to actively find this data which is deliberate.
I also think "health details" might be stretching it a little bit.

From what I have read they use wi-fi "because collecting the positions of Wi-Fis allowed them to triangulate locations and produce better directions for mobile phone owners using Google Maps, which, in turn, will allow Google to generate more advertising revenue."

 

Seriously people... invasion of privacy? Conspiracies??

If you have a wireless network set up at home, and you have it unencrypted, you have ZERO expectations of privacy... or at least you should have zero.... If you don't, then you just may want to learn a little before you go off screaming...

If your wireless network is unencrypted, that means ANYONE within range of it can connect to, copy or changed anything on your computer or anything it is hooked to...

This is not a secret... it is why every wireless router manual has a section on security and why every site I have ever seen that explains how they work has a section on it...

Crying that they have gathered information from unencrypted networks is like crying that they took a picture of you standing on your front lawn naked...

 

well they didnt get any info from my neighborhood...all the idiots have encrypted signals otherwise I would not be paying for the internet access

 

I agree with you on all of your points except one or two...

I don't think it was intentional.
I don't think they set out to collect this data.

...and I don't think they...

Sadly neither one can be proven either way.

 

This isn't about your internet traffic skip... If you don't encrypt your wireless network, you are transmitting all of your information... that is what a wireless router is... a transmitter...

This isn't something that someone has to come onto your property to take, they dont even have to face your property... if they come with range of your transmission, then they have access to everything on your computer...

You can't argue that you should be able to transmit your info into the airwaves unencrypted and then expect it to be private...

 

All they captured was just a handful of packets per open node. That doesn't equate to magically getting their entire browsing history for the day, or even a coherent data stream.

If they had wanted to do it intentionally, they would have done a *much* *much* better job of it.

 

On the subject or transmitting data... anyone who uses a cordless phone (the home land-line type), is automatically giving anyone who wants one (and can google) a free wire tap.

Seriously, there is no privacy left... I don't know what people are so freaked out about... Worrying about it is way too late now. If you have a drivers licence, a library card, a student loan, credit card, car loan, mortgage, utility in your name (electric/gas/water), telephone/internet or any number of other things right up to and including taxes, then you are not anonymous and never will be.

As for google getting your info for the CIA or any other american agency, if the patriot act is still in effect, then they have no need to use clandestine methods to get any info about anyone who has any type of dealings in the US... that includes us canadians whose health care information was (and likely still is) stored on american servers.

 

digital spread spectrum

 

http://technology.feedfury.com/content/42838555-personal-privacy-are-cordless-telephones-secure.html

http://community.livejournal.com/phreaking/28672.html


If someone builds it, someone else will hack it and yet someone else will post about it...

If you are transmitting, you are giving it away... literally...

 

the key is this....dont buy the low grade

I had forgotton about the D.E.C.T.....those are the best

but yes..everything is hackable anyways..I was just meaning the regular type of everyday hacker...not C.I.A. ..C.S.I.S type equipment

 

Thanks.

 

wife wasn't crazy about our house being googled ...she was weeding the flowers and the picture was of her with her ass up in the air ....i'm still laughing