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04/23/10
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County Fair: When the other side can't tell the truth. About anything
Politico: The tea party's exaggerated importance
The Register: Google Street View logs WiFi networks, Mac addresses
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Comment from: ibotobob [Visitor]
It's a bit late, but I'm glad the outrage is there. When I found out that the "my location" stuff on google maps is using WiFi information (obviously collected during the streetview sessions) I was appalled. So now they have complete profiles of everybody who happens to have a WiFi network. Nice.
The thing that makes the dangers of this so hard to communicate is that every single bit of data is innocent by itself. Only when they're cross-linked, do they become dangerous. And cross-linking information is a lot easier than non-computer people believe. An example from the outsets of de-anonimization research that I love quoting is the fact that some 80% of Americans can be identified uniquely only by birthdate, sex, and ZIP code. Imagine how much more information google has. They probably know much more about you than yourself.
The thing that makes the dangers of this so hard to communicate is that every single bit of data is innocent by itself. Only when they're cross-linked, do they become dangerous. And cross-linking information is a lot easier than non-computer people believe. An example from the outsets of de-anonimization research that I love quoting is the fact that some 80% of Americans can be identified uniquely only by birthdate, sex, and ZIP code. Imagine how much more information google has. They probably know much more about you than yourself.
04/23/10 @ 02:00
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