Inside Google

Google gets a slap on the wrist for violating Australian privacy law

John M. Simpson

Australia’s Privacy Commissioner Karen Curtis says Google’s Wi-Spy snooping violated the law down under, but instead of punishing the company she asked for an apology and a promise to do the right thing going forward. Apparently that’s the most she could do.

Press Release

“Monopole” is French for Google

CONTACT: Margot Williams

Last week the French Competition Authority officially declared Google a monopoly. Said the NYT: “That conclusion is hardly novel, but the decision appears to go beyond any previous official ruling in the United States or elsewhere.”

Press Release

Double Trouble for Google

CONTACT: Margot Williams

Twice in the past week, Google has come in contact with Europe’s rather different culture of competition and privacy, leaving Mountain View contemplating investigations and negotiations it would have preferred to avoid.

Consumer Group Sniffs Congresswoman’s Open Wi-Fi

David Kravets

We’re not sure what’s more humorous: That California Rep. Jane Harman, the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, maintains two unencrypted Wi-Fi networks at her residence, or that a consumer group sniffed her unsecured traffic in a bid to convince lawmakers to hold hearings about Google.

Google Steet View Privacy Controversy Touches Congress

Brian Prince

Consumer Watchdog accuses Google of breaching the home WiFi networks of prominent lawmakers as part of its Google Street View snafu. To bolster its point, the group conducted some so-called wardriving to see if it could find unencrypted networks. In doing so, however, some say Consumer Watchdog went too far.

Consumer Watchdog Believes Google ‘WiSpy’ Potentially Logged Homeland Security Data

Liva Judic

In the long list of legal issues Google is facing at the moment, here’s another one to add to the record: Consumer Watchdog suspects the Mountain View-based company to have picked up unprotected payload data (i.e. Wi-Fi) from the home network of a member of the Department of Homeland Security as well as from houses of members of Congress. Ironically enough, person who has most likely been snooped upon is Rep. Jane Harman, D-CA, chair of the Intelligence Subcommittee of the Homeland Security.

Google Street View Scanned US Politicos

Staff Writers

A US consumer site claimed that Google Street View may well have cast its beady Orwellian eye over US politicians’ wi-fi networks. Consumer Watchdog said that if that happened, US national security data could have been compromised. It said that Representative Jane Harman, who chairs the Intelligence Subcommittee of the Homeland Security Committee “has at least one wireless network in her Washington DC home that could have been breached by Google.”

Google Slammed For Wi-Fi Breach of Lawmakers’ Home Networks

Barbara Hernandez

Google has been accused of drive-by spying on members of Congress, including those involved with homeland security, by uploading e-mail or Website viewing information while mapping for its Google Street View. According to a government watchdog group several members of Congress have unsecured wireless networks, including Rep. Jane Harman, D-CA, who heads the intelligence subcommittee for the House Homeland Security committee, and whose home was discovered to house unsecured networks named “harmanmbr” and “harmantheater.”

Google Removes WiFi Gear from Street View Cars

Clint Boulton

Meanwhile, Consumer Watchdog said July 8 that Google’s WiSpy snooping could have sucked up and recorded communications from members of Congress. The consumer advocacy group said Rep. Jane Harman, D-Calif., chair of the Intelligence Subcommittee of the Homeland Security Committee, has at least one wireless network in her Washington, D.C., home that could have been breached by Google.

Google Downplays Claim It May Have Breached Lawmakers’ Home Networks

Jaikumar Vijayan

Consumer Watchdog, a Santa Monica, Calif.-based advocacy group that has been a sharp critic of Google’s privacy practices in the past, said Thursday that the search giant may have breached the networks while its vehicles were collecting wireless SSID information for the company’s Street View service.