Yesterday’s revelation that Google’s StreetView cars collected more than just anonymized pictures of buildings and cars (and some comical situations) came as a surprise to many, including regulatory bodies in a number of countries that are now considering miscellaneous lawsuits and penalties, according to the BBC.

Claudiu Popa

 

To wit, the issue was that these ‘photographic cars’ included the ability to sniff wireless data from open networks as they drove around neighbourhoods, so they likely collected the various device and network identifiers along with some snippet of content that happened to be transferred at that particular moment.

People feel violated. Privacy advocates smell blood and lawyers are rubbing their hands in anticipation. Read the rest of this entry »