So Google Collected PCAPS? Who Cares?
Other than the paranoid privacy geeks, no one cares that Google snapped a few errant frames of data from open wireless access points from its Street View van as it roamed the neighborhoods. Get this privacy geeks- People are broadcasting it onto the open airwaves. Just as if it were citizen band radio or a walkie talkie. Anyone can sniff the packets and collect them. And its not illegal.
Drudge blasted the headlines today that Google has somehow captured peoples’ emails. WHATever. If you had any idea about the amount of meta information Google collects on all of your online activities, you would probably want to log off right now and not connect to the intertubes again.
Most people have a Gmail or YouTube account. Google tracks all of your online video watching habits and it sniffs your emails for keywords to target you with advertising. Even this blog features Google’s Adsense, and if my words alone don’t create targeted ads for you, your own surfing habits might produce ads that target you better. Google tracks your web surfing habits via cookies generated from any Adsense enabled site you visit.
Just think about the keywords for searches you send to Google. I once gave a presentation on how hackers target and collect the Google keyword searches from compromised systems because it provides a really accurate profile of who you are and where you live and what your interests are- My own past queries over the last few days lists search terms for nearby restaurants, local events, automobiles that interest me, tips on potty training, and medical terms that I would find embarrassing if they were to be known. A hacker can use that information to further the theft of your identity. And Google already has all of it. Yours, your neighbors, your community, and everyone else.
So before you start getting outraged that Google snagged your WAP ID of “Linksys” and the fact that you might have been viewing porn at the time, do everyone a favor. Get more outraged about the stuff that they are already tracking about you. And dammit, secure your Wireless Access Point and stop surfing porn.
