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+--- Thread: Google was gathering more than street views (/showthread.php?tid=11585)
Google was gathering more than street views - spunky - 03-12-2013
A while back there was a thread when Google cars were spotted around east Hawaii taking pictures. People said they were uncomfortable with the cars scouring every street taking pictures. Turns out people had a right to be suspicious.
While staff were in cars taking pictures of our homes, they also collected data from every unsecured wifi they came across, i.e. your email, websites you visit, and "confidential data".
We're only hearing about it after they got sued. Big Island Now ran a story today, who knows when the Trib-Herald will cover it.
http://bigislandnow.com/2013/03/12/google-settles-with-states-on-data-interception/
RE: Google was gathering more than street views - jlgerk - 03-12-2013
What idiot is on an Unsecured WiFi ??
Ignorance is no excuse.
............................................................
http://www.icompositions.com/artists/jlgerk
RE: Google was gathering more than street views - dmbwest - 03-12-2013
LOL @ X : )
I know exactly where I stand in this 'cause I can see myself waving.
aloha,
pog
RE: Google was gathering more than street views - unknownjulie - 03-12-2013
I use unsecured wifi. I dont mind supplying the neighbors. Specifically, what exactly is the "danger". Do you know anyone who had something bad happen to them by having wifi at their house and sharing it with neighbors? I mean, I know the "standard wisdom" is that there is some kind of danger, but I personally have never really been able to figure it out. IT would seem that someone going through my trash could get just as much info as from my wifi. Maybe I just need to be enlightened. IF so, please enlighten me.
RE: Google was gathering more than street views - spunky - 03-12-2013
@unknown - do you leave your doors unlocked too?
Do you bank online? If you were checking your account info online while Google was in the neighborhood they (and others) could have swiped your personal info, passwords, account numbers, etc.
Do you always sign out of accounts when you are done? Back up your data to a cloud service?
Do you have a web cam hooked up to your computer?
Hopefully no one in your household was checking out child porn or using your wifi to access child porn or otherwise engaging in illegal activity online using your wifi.
RE: Google was gathering more than street views - Aaron S - 03-12-2013
This is one of many examples why you should secure your wireless router.
http://blogs.smartmoney.com/paydirt/2011/05/26/the-true-dangers-in-your-unsecured-wifi/
RE: Google was gathering more than street views - unknownjulie - 03-12-2013
hum.. Had not thought of the porn angle. That actually might be legit. The banking I am not worried about because I always log off of things. isnt it the individual's computer that would be the "crime acompliss" and not the internet connection. ( i Know I'm a terrible speller, just lazy about it)
RE: Google was gathering more than street views - spunky - 03-12-2013
@unknown julie
"Had not thought of the porn angle. That actually might be legit." actually might be? Tell that to the families that have their world turned inside out (like the link provided by another poster.) It took the FBI 2 YEARS to determine that an innocent family was indeed innocent.
Do you shop online? Every have to key in that 3 # code from the back of your card.
When I warn my friends of identity theft - they just say they don;t have much money so there isn't much to drain from their accounts. They don;t get that these days, criminals are taking over people's lives with their identities. Its not just hacking into a banking account or using a credit card.
They get your info and create whole new identities for themselves ...in your name. I read of one lady who had her identity hacked. The imposter went so far as to take the innocent person to court claiming that the innocent person was actually the imposter. She committed welfare fraud and all kinds of other crimes in this innocent woman's name.
Not gonna beat my head against the wall anymore trying to convince anyone that unsecured wifi is a bad idea..... go ahead and give criminals and law enforcement something to do.
RE: Google was gathering more than street views - unknownjulie - 03-12-2013
It is difficult to determine risk at times. We need an actuary at this point. What I am trying to determine is if the "locking up of my wifi" is worth the inconvenience it might produce for my household. If my chances are 1 in a million that someone driving down my street and somehow getting my info from parking their car in front of my house, and stealing my identity based on that- then I'll take the chance. If it is 1 in 10, then of course not. I am not saying the risk does not exist. I am just trying to determine how much energy I should really be exerting worrying or thinking about this...
RE: Google was gathering more than street views - ericlp - 03-12-2013
I don't see how an unsecured wifi access point is going to let anyone gain anything. Unless you don't password your computer and someone logs on to your network and you shared out your computer.
Not everyone knows how to do this by the way. If someone finds your 'unsecured' wireless the only way they can find out your bank account info is they have to be listening to the wireless signal. They would need to be within range of your wireless 100-200 feet or so.
Than you would need a wireless data analyser. And you would have set that up to record all the IP address's and keystrokes going to and from the wireless router. So they would have to do this for a few days unless you log in daily.
You would need to buy the equipment and somehow know how to plug it in to your computer and set it up on the right frequency to capture live data. Than you'd have to know all the bank IP address or read the code and somehow decipher it. It's not that easy ...
You know if you have an older router and just using wep? That's is really easy to hack a wep key. WPA2 is the harder one to hack be even that is not safe.
So what's my point? If your gonna be that paranoid, you might as well not even bank online or have an email address. Banks get hacked daily and Password dumps with usernames are dumped all over the net. Mostly likely people never change their passwords and use the same password for everything.
Give me 5 minutes and I can hack your google account. Give me another 10 minutes and I will own your bank account / facebook / twitter etc...etc...
I find it super funny that most people secure their router but never change the admin password to the router.
Whooops. Listen... do you really think a string of numbers and characters is gonna protect you from hackers?Yeah right...... Dream on. BTW, I use Keepass for maximum data protection. I would advise you to do the same.
The last thing you should worry about is locking down your router because I sure as hell don't. I let my hood access it but if I find someone (making my router slow) I just ban them. Yes I reflashed my router using DD-WRT and for the ultimate paranoid people out there, the safest way to make your router safe is not by password but only letting people have access via MAC address. Try hacking that!
So what's my rant to all this and why am I telling you this? It's because google has tons of cash and greedy lawyers love to sue ... So this is the ONLY reason why unsecured routers even get's press time.
If anyone want ultimate protection I can offer services to teach people how to do this... Just send me a Private Message.
If you really want an eye opener read this...
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2012/11/ff-mat-honan-password-hacker/