Recently there has been a lot of bad press regarding WiFi snooping. I would like to say I believe that what Google did as a company was a bad move, but I also believe it was an important one.
People’s homes are their private worlds. They are the last places where freedom can be practised without the pressures of society. It is a persons sanctuary. What you have effectively done is highlight a gaping hole in that sanctuary by demonstrating the weaknesses in the securities we rely on. The problem isn’t as much that you were able to drive a car around and collect information. The problem is that anyone is capable of doing it.
While the lawsuit you will be facing is going to be very real, there is something that our governments and their citizens aren’t considering. If Google can drive around and collect information, anyone can and probably has.
People are reacting in fear which is pointless. Sure someone might score some cash out of you, but is that going to fix the unsecure wireless networks that exist almost everywhere?
Consider piracy. Previously it was underground and almost unknown, except for people in the ‘scene’ or people who brought DVD’s from many Asian countries.
When companies reacted by highlighting piracy in the media, it was free advertising for piracy.Now I hear people talking openly about it on the bus. Anti Piracy groups have made the problem much worse.
The gaping hole in wireless is very real. The gaping hole in the way information is sent over wireless is very real, and the media coverage regarding your data collection has magnified the problem.
What happens now when other companies see an opportunity to collect information? How about the people who do it on small scales to blackmail people? To collect information for identity theft? The people who use it to spread malicious software?