Ridiculously long iPhone Software License Agreement

[Tom]

Google may not try to be evil but they are so large it doesn't seem like there is much control...
- buzz launches with no privacy exposing a bunch of stuff... SURPRISE
- Google starts WiFi scanning to collect SSIDs and MAC addresses for location services and some how also does packet captures on open networks?

The first is a case of not planning very well.. Facebook is far worse in this regard most times. Sure they are learning, but man...

And the Second isn't any kind of privacy breach what so ever. ANYONE can drive by and see your wifi APs beacon and SSID (if its not hidden). You yourself are saying to the world "See my ap? Isn't it lovely?" just by turning it on. Thats how it works. Its not like google was cracking the networks and spying on you. Also they didn't just start. I assume Google Street View has been doing it since day one. And why not? It saves a trip. Two birds with one stone (street view pictures, and geo location data).

[Mr. Analog]

And the Second isn't any kind of privacy breach what so ever. ANYONE can drive by and see your wifi APs beacon and SSID (if its not hidden). You yourself are saying to the world "See my ap? Isn't it lovely?" just by turning it on. Thats how it works. Its not like google was cracking the networks and spying on you. Also they didn't just start. I assume Google Street View has been doing it since day one. And why not? It saves a trip. Two birds with one stone (street view pictures, and geo location data).

I'm no Google apologist, but they were the ones who exposed that they had collected the WiFi information, they have also elected to remove this collected information rather thoroughly. For some reason the German government wants Google to hand over the data and not delete it (a little curious in itself).

I can see why Appleheads and Googleoids fight all the time, Apple and Google have pretty different philosophies when it comes to doing business. Google wants to index the world, Apple wants to make its own world for its devices to live in.

I think what bugs some people about Apple is that they seem obsessed with control, to me this makes sense given how out of control they were in the late 90s.

I think what bugs some people about Google is that they collect a lot of information and are sometimes sloppy with how they expose it, to me this makes sense because of growing concern over privacy issues.

Bottom line. Which is better? Who cares. Does it matter? Nope.

[Darren Dirt]

Bottom line. Which is better? Who cares. Does it matter? Nope, as long as Microsoft's market share continues to shrink.

FYP

[Lazybones]

Google may not try to be evil but they are so large it doesn't seem like there is much control...
- buzz launches with no privacy exposing a bunch of stuff... SURPRISE
- Google starts WiFi scanning to collect SSIDs and MAC addresses for location services and some how also does packet captures on open networks?

The first is a case of not planning very well.. Facebook is far worse in this regard most times. Sure they are learning, but man...

And the Second isn't any kind of privacy breach what so ever. ANYONE can drive by and see your wifi APs beacon and SSID (if its not hidden). You yourself are saying to the world "See my ap? Isn't it lovely?" just by turning it on. Thats how it works. Its not like google was cracking the networks and spying on you. Also they didn't just start. I assume Google Street View has been doing it since day one. And why not? It saves a trip. Two birds with one stone (street view pictures, and geo location data).

You didn't read it, they didn't JUST collect the SSID and MAC, they where doing full packet captures of the network data.. Now sure a smart user can just turn on encryption, but how do you accidentally SNOOP a network like that?
http://gizmodo.com/5539395/google-snooped-on-you-for-three-years-but-is-profoundly-sorry

Think of it this way, you go into a library and start using wifi, google is driving by and captures your forum password, fragments of photos on your facebook account and some of your IM chat, then stores it...

[Thorin]

I think The Register has treated this subject matter very well in one of their articles: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/05/18/google_street_view_wifi_analysis/.

Essentially, it seems that the software engineers did know what their software did, and perhaps the project managers did too, but that none of them actually bothered to think through the privacy concerns that might entail.

[Mr. Analog]

Essentially, it seems that the software engineers did know what their software did, and perhaps the project managers did too, but that none of them actually bothered to think through the privacy concerns that might entail.

An open WiFi is no more private than an open window.

[Tom]

Google may not try to be evil but they are so large it doesn't seem like there is much control...
- buzz launches with no privacy exposing a bunch of stuff... SURPRISE
- Google starts WiFi scanning to collect SSIDs and MAC addresses for location services and some how also does packet captures on open networks?

The first is a case of not planning very well.. Facebook is far worse in this regard most times. Sure they are learning, but man...

And the Second isn't any kind of privacy breach what so ever. ANYONE can drive by and see your wifi APs beacon and SSID (if its not hidden). You yourself are saying to the world "See my ap? Isn't it lovely?" just by turning it on. Thats how it works. Its not like google was cracking the networks and spying on you. Also they didn't just start. I assume Google Street View has been doing it since day one. And why not? It saves a trip. Two birds with one stone (street view pictures, and geo location data).

You didn't read it, they didn't JUST collect the SSID and MAC, they where doing full packet captures of the network data.. Now sure a smart user can just turn on encryption, but how do you accidentally SNOOP a network like that?
http://gizmodo.com/5539395/google-snooped-on-you-for-three-years-but-is-profoundly-sorry

Think of it this way, you go into a library and start using wifi, google is driving by and captures your forum password, fragments of photos on your facebook account and some of your IM chat, then stores it...

Yes, technically a pcap file of everything they captured, as they were driving down the road (probably faster than the speed limit, from what I've heard), was not deleted. But from what I read, they didn't even use that data. All that was actually used was the ap identification information and some gps coords.