Go Back   Two Wheel Fix > General > News Desk

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 10-22-2010, 06:06 PM   #1
Homeslice
Elitist
 
Homeslice's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: SF Bay Area
Moto: Gix 750
Posts: 11,351
Question Google says its cars grabbed email and passwords

How the hell can cameras capture email and passwords??


REUTERS/Christian Charisius
On Friday October 22, 2010, 3:44 pm EDT
By Alexei Oreskovic

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Google Inc said its "Street View" cars around the world accidentally collected more personal data than previously disclosed, and that it was changing its privacy practices.

Regulators in some of the more than 30 countries where the cars operated are looking into the issue.

Google's Street View cars, which are well known for crisscrossing the globe and taking panoramic pictures of the city's streets, collected the data. The company displays the pictures in its online street maps.

Google said it wants to delete the data as soon as possible. It disclosed the snafu in May, but said at the time that the information it collected was typically limited to "fragments" of data because the cars were always moving.

"It's clear from those inspections that while most of the data is fragmentary, in some instances entire emails and URLs were captured, as well as passwords," Google Vice President of Engineering and Research Alan Eustace said in a post on Google's blog on Friday.

Google had deleted the data in countries where regulators had given it permission to do so, a Google representative said. The representative said there were investigations in other countries and that Google could not delete the data until the investigations were closed.

Google said it has appointed Alma Whitten as director of privacy for engineering and product management, and that the company was adding new internal procedures requiring engineering product managers to maintain a privacy design document that records how user data is handled.

Google also said it was enhancing its privacy training for engineers and other important groups within the company.

Collecting the WiFi data was unrelated to the Google Maps project, and was done so Google could amass data on WiFi hotspots that could help provide location-based services.

Google said collecting the additional data was a mistake resulting from a piece of computer code from an experimental project that was accidentally included.

(Reporting by Alexei Oreskovic. Editing by Robert MacMillan)
Homeslice is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-22-2010, 06:55 PM   #2
Captain Morgan
Let's do another U-turn
 
Captain Morgan's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Indiana
Moto: 2009 V-Strom
Posts: 3,816
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Homeslice View Post
How the hell can cameras capture email and passwords?? ......


Collecting the WiFi data was unrelated to the Google Maps project, and was done so Google could amass data on WiFi hotspots that could help provide location-based services.

Google said collecting the additional data was a mistake resulting from a piece of computer code from an experimental project that was accidentally included.

(Reporting by Alexei Oreskovic. Editing by Robert MacMillan)
Reading the last paragraphs of the article (I deleted all the other stuff from your post in my quote), I'd say they were gathering WiFi info and managed to capture the e-mails, websites and passwords as people were typing stuff in on unsecure connections.
Captain Morgan is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-22-2010, 07:36 PM   #3
Particle Man
Custom User Title
 
Particle Man's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Central NY
Moto: 2003 SV650S
Posts: 14,959
Default

Like the "accidentally" and the horse...
Particle Man is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-23-2010, 09:49 AM   #4
EpyonXero
AMA Supersport
 
EpyonXero's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Redneck Riviera, FL
Moto: 2003 VFR800f6
Posts: 2,531
Default

They were wardriving and captured data from open wifi networks.
__________________
EpyonXero is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-23-2010, 10:09 AM   #5
Particle Man
Custom User Title
 
Particle Man's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Central NY
Moto: 2003 SV650S
Posts: 14,959
Default

Yes because of "a piece of computer code from an experimental project that was accidentally included"

Experimental project for what?
Particle Man is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-23-2010, 11:59 AM   #6
Smittie61984
I give Squids a bad name
 
Smittie61984's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Fly Over State
Moto: 1996 CBR600 F3 (AKA the Flying Turd)
Posts: 4,742
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Particle Man View Post
Yes because of "a piece of computer code from an experimental project that was accidentally included"

Experimental project for what?
Google's takeover of the planet.
__________________
lifts - R.I.P.
Smittie61984 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-23-2010, 01:30 PM   #7
101lifts2
WSB Champion
 
101lifts2's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Anaheim, CA
Moto: 2009 Kawi ZX6R
Posts: 5,570
Default

God I love the word snafu.
__________________
Train Hard

Ron Paul - 2012

Mark of Excellence
GM
101lifts2 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-23-2010, 04:48 PM   #8
tallywacker
Virtual Machine
 
tallywacker's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: PA
Moto: 2010 Ducati Hypermotard
Posts: 1,698
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Smittie61984 View Post
Google's takeover of the planet.
Yep
__________________
tallywacker is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-26-2010, 12:20 PM   #9
Cass
Cassolicious!
 
Cass's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Austin, TX
Moto: SV
Posts: 1,377
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Smittie61984 View Post
Google's takeover of the planet.

sky.net.
__________________
Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end: then stop.
Cass is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-26-2010, 01:10 PM   #10
goof2
AMA Supersport
 
goof2's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2009
Posts: 4,756
Default

..
Attached Images
File Type: jpg Google data.jpg (36.6 KB, 24 views)
goof2 is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Bookmarks


Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -4. The time now is 08:24 PM.

Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.11
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions Inc.