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JohnnyLucky
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- May 30, 2007
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[citation][nom]zybch[/nom]Anyone one else just plain not trust Google anymore? This combined with them keeping your search (and advertising) data for 3 years is just plain creepy.Also, it pays to remember that EVEN IF your wifi is secured, google still recorded the MAC address of your router.[/citation]
Not really.
Any website you go on tracks as much data on you as it can, and it never tells you what it is that they're collecting
Google is bloody honest. I love em.
Not really.
Any website you go on tracks as much data on you as it can, and it never tells you what it is that they're collecting
Google is bloody honest. I love em.
Silmarunya
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- Nov 3, 2009
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Hardly surprising, we all know Google respects privacy about as much as a hungry cow respects my lawn...
Every time I use a Google product, there's this little voice in the back of my head telling me I'm using a product that monitors me more than anything else, including the so called 'nanny state'. Too bad many of their products still don't have an equal competitor.
Chrome? Opera is as fast (slightly faster according to some), yet lacks extensions. FF has all the nice extensions, but lacks the blazing speed. Bing still doesn't give results as meaningful as Google does. Gmail is better browser integrated than hotmail.
Every time I use a Google product, there's this little voice in the back of my head telling me I'm using a product that monitors me more than anything else, including the so called 'nanny state'. Too bad many of their products still don't have an equal competitor.
Chrome? Opera is as fast (slightly faster according to some), yet lacks extensions. FF has all the nice extensions, but lacks the blazing speed. Bing still doesn't give results as meaningful as Google does. Gmail is better browser integrated than hotmail.
Even collecting only MAC addresses is sketchy. If that is connected to google earth/street view then one could find out where you lived based on information in packets. Piss the wrong person off and they might come knocking on your door. If they come to my town (luckily it's rather small so they may not bother) I'ma turn off my access point and put a big-ass mirror in front of my house.
"Hardly surprising, we all know Google respects privacy about as much as a hungry cow respects my lawn..."
While it's healthy to question the security of integrity of data-harvesting there's one major difference between Google and anyone else. Namely, Google is honest about it.
Also, they've never actually been caught doing anything untoward with the data which is quite impressive considering their size, mindshare and skepticism shown by people such as yourself.
So in the end we 'know' nothing but what we've actually seen or heard and judging Google by those merits they're probably the most stand-up company of their size anywhere.
On another note, for those wondering, payload data refers to what most would simply term 'data'. In other words the actual information transferred as opposed to header data that only contain the source and destination of the data, it's type, length and checksum etc.
While it's healthy to question the security of integrity of data-harvesting there's one major difference between Google and anyone else. Namely, Google is honest about it.
Also, they've never actually been caught doing anything untoward with the data which is quite impressive considering their size, mindshare and skepticism shown by people such as yourself.
So in the end we 'know' nothing but what we've actually seen or heard and judging Google by those merits they're probably the most stand-up company of their size anywhere.
On another note, for those wondering, payload data refers to what most would simply term 'data'. In other words the actual information transferred as opposed to header data that only contain the source and destination of the data, it's type, length and checksum etc.
"Even collecting only MAC addresses is sketchy. If that is connected to google earth/street view then one could find out where you lived based on information in packets."
And why on earth would they publish any information that they collected, allegedly as a mistake, and tie it into street addresses for the general public to search through?
Even the frothing-at-the-mouth conspiracy theorists must realize something like that would never float.
Look, both rival companies and several government agencies, of multiple nations, have been trying to find dirt on Google _for years_. The fact that they've yet to do so is nothing short of astonishing, and yet people come up with the most absurd ideas regarding the company.
As I remarked earlier, skepticism is a good thing but it can be easily pushed into paranoia.
And why on earth would they publish any information that they collected, allegedly as a mistake, and tie it into street addresses for the general public to search through?
Even the frothing-at-the-mouth conspiracy theorists must realize something like that would never float.
Look, both rival companies and several government agencies, of multiple nations, have been trying to find dirt on Google _for years_. The fact that they've yet to do so is nothing short of astonishing, and yet people come up with the most absurd ideas regarding the company.
As I remarked earlier, skepticism is a good thing but it can be easily pushed into paranoia.
@ Exodite4: They collected SSID's and MACs intentionally according to their own statement as shown in the above article: "On April 27, Google sent out a technical note that stated that, while the Street View cars did collect publicly broadcast SSID information and MAC addresses,.."
I'm sure they would never publish that information for the general public to access, however that's not to say it still couldn't be leaked through a security breach. I'm just saying they shouldn't be collecting this information in the first place. What possible legitimate use could it have? Granted one could just change their SSID and secure their network, but changing your MAC means buying a new router/access point.
I'm sure they would never publish that information for the general public to access, however that's not to say it still couldn't be leaked through a security breach. I'm just saying they shouldn't be collecting this information in the first place. What possible legitimate use could it have? Granted one could just change their SSID and secure their network, but changing your MAC means buying a new router/access point.
FenrirXIII
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- Apr 26, 2006
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Is anyone else a little uneasy that they were collecting mac addresses and SSID information while mapping out said data's physical location?
This is the kind of thing scam artists and such wish they could have. To make scams more believable. (Hey i'm your neighbor by three blocks and I always noticed bla bla bla...so give me 100$ and all of your other info so I can forward 1million dollars to your account.)
But in all seriousness. If google decided to take over the world, the first step to domination is domination of the internet. Now they can hunt you down physically. By MAC address. No spoofing IP's will save us now!!1*tinfoil hat shaped like chrome symbol*
This is the kind of thing scam artists and such wish they could have. To make scams more believable. (Hey i'm your neighbor by three blocks and I always noticed bla bla bla...so give me 100$ and all of your other info so I can forward 1million dollars to your account.)
But in all seriousness. If google decided to take over the world, the first step to domination is domination of the internet. Now they can hunt you down physically. By MAC address. No spoofing IP's will save us now!!1*tinfoil hat shaped like chrome symbol*
steiner666
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- Jul 30, 2008
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As the head of facebook would probably say, anyone who trusts what google says about them not making use of the data at all are dumb ffucks.
[citation][nom]bv90andy[/nom]I don't know why router software doesn't just disable ssid publication after a setup was run... it's useless and dangerous[/citation]
You realize that your laptop or whatever will just almost constantly send out probes, which includes your routers SSID, when it is set to connect to a hidden SSID right? So you won't have your router sending out your SSID but all your wireless devices will be and those probes can be found as easily as your router sending it's SSID out. Also if you really want to get into a hidden router, there are programs that will find the hidden SSID anyway. Might as wlel leave it on since turning it off won't change anything to anyone who wants to break in anyway.
You realize that your laptop or whatever will just almost constantly send out probes, which includes your routers SSID, when it is set to connect to a hidden SSID right? So you won't have your router sending out your SSID but all your wireless devices will be and those probes can be found as easily as your router sending it's SSID out. Also if you really want to get into a hidden router, there are programs that will find the hidden SSID anyway. Might as wlel leave it on since turning it off won't change anything to anyone who wants to break in anyway.
The only assumption that Governments aren't doing this very thing is that they don't have the kind of money lying around like Google does. It certainly isn't that governments are ethical or moral in their actions when dealing with their citizens.
Blessedman
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- May 29, 2001
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This was an honest mistake and them taking a 3rd party to evaluate their mistake I think shows an enormous amount of good faith on their behalf. I can't believe people are so freaked over this.
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