In This Issue:
Right Up Your Street - Why Is Google Being Accused of 'Stealing' Wi-Fi Information?
By Roger Davies
Google have been busy photographing our streets and mapping our landscape, continually adding new features to improve the Streetview service. It now has more features than ever – including the three dimensional scanning of buildings and the ability to identify nearby businesses and places of interest. A new 3D anaglyphic viewing mode has also been added, for those with the appropriate glasses. But a furor erupted, when it emerged that Google's Streetview cars have also been collecting Wi-Fi network information on their travels.
The search giant says it collected the data to "improve Google’s location based services, as well as services provided by the Google Geo Location API”. It is rumored that as much as 600GB of data across more than 30 countries had been collected which includes intimate details of some private home networks and computers.
At a press briefing, Google co-founder Sergey Brin admitted: "We screwed up, and I'm not making excuses about it", adding that controls are in place, but "obviously" more needed to be done. "Trust is very important to us, and we’re going to do everything we can to preserve it".
The German data protection authority (DPA) launched an investigation on the 5th of May, with Denmark and Ireland formally requesting that Google delete the collected data.
Facebook Also In the Spotlight
Facebook also found itself in the media recently, as users raised concerns over privacy and the way in which Facebook shares their personal information to others, even people who are not necessarily ‘friends’. Many say the privacy settings are too complicated, difficult to manage and ask for more transparency.
A ‘Quit Facebook Day’ event was held on the 31st of May, with users threatening to leave the social media site and remove their profile. At the time of writing, 35982 people have deleted their accounts. While this may seem like a small number, it is important to remember that they represent a small handful of extreme views within a much larger group.
Mark Zuckerberg promised to “drastically reduce the amount of information that is available to everyone” and went on to say:
“Facebook recognizes that the many privacy-related changes over the past year may have caused confusion, and the company will work within the framework announced today as it continues to innovate new features and products,"
Facebook is a great way for people to stay in touch, with many analysts now saying that Facebook commands even more traffic than Google. Not surprisingly, some businesses look for marketing opportunities there too. Social Networking only works, because people are prepared to share information. For Mark Zuckerberg, the trick will lie in balancing functionality with users’ privacy rights.