Comments on: 37 States now Investigating Google http://www.thegeekpub.com/1098/37-states-now-investigating-google/ Drink Beer and Geek Out Sat, 10 Dec 2011 15:52:33 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: AlphaGeek http://www.thegeekpub.com/1098/37-states-now-investigating-google/comment-page-1/#comment-1439 AlphaGeek Thu, 12 Aug 2010 13:57:07 +0000 http://www.thegeekpub.com/?p=1098#comment-1439 Actually, the MAC address are not a big deal at all in this. Anyone with an old wifi/bluetooth enabled Palm could walk down the sidewalk in front of your house and get that info. The issue is more around the data packets being sent, although, with people broadcasting them from their house like miniature TV stations, receiving these packets is not suck a big deal either. The problem was that the program that Google was using, which was intended to capture wifi identifying info for the purpose of mapping out where public access wifi hot spots were, stored the data packets being sent from home wifi networks. These packets are, of course, meaningless unless a) unencrypted (everyone uses encryption on their networks, right?) and b) assembled correctly ("put into context" you might say). Should we trust Google? Not after your scare tactics, but, if you actually understood the technology, there is no reason not to. Actually, the MAC address are not a big deal at all in this. Anyone with an old wifi/bluetooth enabled Palm could walk down the sidewalk in front of your house and get that info. The issue is more around the data packets being sent, although, with people broadcasting them from their house like miniature TV stations, receiving these packets is not suck a big deal either. The problem was that the program that Google was using, which was intended to capture wifi identifying info for the purpose of mapping out where public access wifi hot spots were, stored the data packets being sent from home wifi networks. These packets are, of course, meaningless unless a) unencrypted (everyone uses encryption on their networks, right?) and b) assembled correctly (“put into context” you might say).

Should we trust Google? Not after your scare tactics, but, if you actually understood the technology, there is no reason not to.

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