Google Settles Privacy Case Over Street View for $13 Million July 20, 2019 https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...-privacy-case-over-street-view-for-13-million
Google Finds Cheap Way Out of Multibillion-Dollar ‘Wi-Spy’ Suit July 21, 2019 https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...ap-way-out-of-multibillion-dollar-wi-spy-suit
Kind of creepy that they recorded all that data but is it really a crime? If I put a sign in my front yard with my name, DOB, SS#, etc... and someone takes a picture of it, is that a crime as well? Would Google have been in less trouble if they had actually logged into these networks and left warning messages about unsecured signals?
Collected Wi-Fi network data is covered by the privacy protections of the U.S. Wiretap Act. Putting a sign in your front yard is something different and other laws apply.
Of course there are laws that treat these things differently but that doesn't mean much to me personally. Google didn't employ any special technology to capture these signals. A camera captures electromagnetic energy (light) and turns it into data (image). A radio captures electromagnetic energy and turns it into data. Is it a crime to open my phone's wifi setup and record all the SSID's being broadcast around me? If the network is not secured, I can connect to the router config page and get more info. This is a crime then? The logical equivalent is leaving the curtains open so that I can be seen naked while stepping out of the shower.
