Google Caught Snooping Wi-Fi Data

17th May 2010

User privacy advocates will have a bonfire to roast Google on when this piece of news becomes generally known…

Google has admitted to German and Irish authorities that they have been “mistakenly” collecting information transmitted over unencrypted wi-fi networks over the last three years.

Pranksters chase down Google Street View car in SCUBA gearThe error was discovered when the concerned authorities in Germany asked for details of data collected by Google’s Street View cars, for Google Maps.

Google has admitted that they were “mistakenly collecting samples of payload data from open networks”. The data thus collected could include emails, photos, websites visited by individuals and businesses surfing on unencrypted Wi-Fi networks when the Street View cars passed by them.

A number of individuals, communities and even entire townships already oppose the Street View service, as they believe that photographs taken by the Street View cars are an invasion of privacy and could be easily misused.

The fact that Google has now been caught snooping private wireless networks will give privacy watchdogs more ammunition to fight their case.

In 2006-2007 a Google engineer wrote a piece of code on an experimental Wi-Fi project, which sampled publicly broadcast data of all categories. The data collected was supposed to be limited to SSID and MAC addresses broadcasted over non-password-protected networks.

It may be little consolation to know that most of the data collected is probably quite unintelligible.

Google suspended the use of Street View cars after the issue was brought to their notice. The company has also asked for a third party to study the case and find out exactly what caused the error and what kind of data was collected.

In what may be considered to be an apology, Google’s senior Vice President of Engineering and Research, Alan Eustace said, “Maintaining people’s trust is crucial to everything we do, and in this case we fell short.”

Google’s problems, though, are definitely not over. Soon after the German government disclosed the issue, the Irish Data Protection Authority ordered Google to delete all payload data collected in Ireland, and they won’t be the last. In fact, Google is sure to have a lot of explaining to do and may even have to face legal action.

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4 Responses to “Google Caught Snooping Wi-Fi Data”

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  1. Google Street View Issue Not Gone Away | AccuraCast Search Daily News : 25 July 2010 at 5:30 pm

    [...] About 2 months ago, Google had admitted that their Street View cars had “mistakenly” collected information transmitted over unencrypted wi-…. [...]

  2. Google Street View Found To Breach U.K. Law | AccuraCast Digital Media News : 10 November 2010 at 7:24 pm

    [...] problems surrounding the breach of privacy laws by Street View cars in the U.K. have not yet gone away. Following a recent inquiry into the matter, a letter from the [...]

  3. Google Privacy Policies Result In Prosecution In Europe | AccuraCast Digital Media News : 20 January 2011 at 4:36 pm

    [...] since the wi-fi snooping issue, Google has been facing problems in Europe, with respect to the local privacy [...]

  4. Palomino Reports » Blog Archive » Google Cannot Be Trusted : 27 January 2012 at 5:01 pm

    [...] services for your sensitive content and private communications. For a company that was outed for capturing data – obtained through snooping WiFI hotspots, it’s clear that the company has issues in terms of [...]

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