Google don't need your Wi-Fi passwords, they have admin rights to a computer inside your network (your phone).
Google knows nearly every Wi-Fi password in the world
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Re: Google knows nearly every Wi-Fi password in the world
#172Your WiFi password is only useful for someone who is within 100 feet of your house. If you have federal agents surveilling you from 100 feet away you have way bigger problems than your WiFi password.
Actually its from further away than that with a high gain directional antenna (I've hit WiFi hot spots about a mile distant using same) but the point is that they can do this from outside your property. You would probably know if someone was in your house but you'd be hard pressed to notice a Yagi antenna pointed at your window from across the street or down the block a bit.
That said, I read the article more as 'yet another reason this whole compelling third parties is an issue' sorts of reasoning as opposed to this is some new threat that we didn't know about. The author points out it has been covered in lots of places. The argument is that more for the folks who aren't thinking they are affected by this because they aren't dissidents or people of interest (yet).
Re: Google knows nearly every Wi-Fi password in the world
#173While the idea of Google knowing every wi-fi password is bad, they already know everything you search for and they also have a very good idea about all the websites you visit. So ...
Re: Google knows nearly every Wi-Fi password in the world
#174If you're running an actual corporate network then a wifi password had better not be the sum total of the protection.
For home use - who cares? It would be a sizable mission to make use of the password...and that would get them what? A couple of lolcats and my skyrim saved games? Nice.
Re: Google knows nearly every Wi-Fi password in the world
#175Funny story:
I was once visiting my friends house in the English midlands. I had been there once before, but this time I had to find the way there myself.
I managed to get the entire way to his street, but then I realized that I had forgotten his house number. He didn't pick up his phone, and I didn't want to knock on every door on the road. I was lost.
Then I realized that the previous time I had visited, I had logged on his wifi. It was from a different phone, but with Google's sync all my old wifi passwords had been synced. I didn't remember the name he had given it, but I could walk along the road until I suddenly connected.
Saved the night.
Re: Google knows nearly every Wi-Fi password in the world
#176Your WiFi password is only useful for someone who is within 100 feet of your house. If you have federal agents surveilling you from 100 feet away you have way bigger problems than your WiFi password.
Some wifi routers have Internet facing management interfaces that use the same password as the wifi network.
Your curt response oversimplifies the situation to the point where an uninformed reader could mistakenly believe the situation has no impact. Your comment should be read in the light of an engineer not only completely missing the point, but an example of the danger of this type of engineering analysis.
Minor technical decisions that "make sense" sometimes have severe technical repercussions.
Re: Google knows nearly every Wi-Fi password in the world
#177Earlier quoted context omitted.
Google having all the WIFI passwords is about as worrying as a government having a 3 day cache of everything - not very worrying unless they do stuff with it. Since Google has misused access to WIFI hotspots to slurp data it's a little bit more worrying. Since it's probably personal information it's also probably covered by data protection laws in some countries.
Why is google having my Wifi password a bad thing? I'd be happy to let EVERYONE have it, and the only thing I fear is neighbour teenagers overloading the connection with torrents so that it's not usable for me. As long as I expect them not to overload my wifi too much, I'm perfectly happy with google or FBI or KGB or friends or random strangers to use have that wifi password. If wifi routers were good at traffic shap…
> Why is google having my Wifi password a bad thing?
I don't think it is a bad thing. It's about as bad as them having "All the IP addresses" - (http://blort.org/~kgasso/images/how-to-catch-script-kiddies....) (http://imgur.com/04sMAxd)
Re: Google knows nearly every Wi-Fi password in the world
#178Earlier quoted context omitted.
I agree that it's unlikely Google as a whole would decide to read/use confidential data. on the other hand, the idea that someone w/in Google might abuse their position is completely plausible. if we know that people at the NSA were passing around phone sex calls by US troops, do you really want to keep trusting that no-one at Google will ever do anything problematic w/ yr data? edit: to be clear, I use Google servic…
Given that Google has a VC arm, I am stunned every time I run into a VC who uses gmail and other google-hosted services as part of their business. They are handing their competition an enormous chunk of their business proprietary information and trusting them not to peek at it without even a contract. To me, that level of naivety with respect to operational security is just baffling. All it takes is one unscrupulous…
You are correct about the "one unscrupulous person" but VCs are hardly significant when you consider other options.
Every single aspect of business and government is susceptible to NSA snooping. Had I access and the lack of scruples, I'd much rather read selections from Goldman Sachs' gmail than any VC's; similarly I'd much rather listen to Obama's telephone calls than Paul Graham's. I'd much rather make my investments in the futures market based on e-mails from high-ranking officials in the DOD than on those from any social networking VC. I could make more money (or have more influence, etc.) that way.
As you say, it takes only "one unscrupulous person". So how common is unscrupulous behavior among highly-trained and highly-screened sysadmins? My bet, no less than 5 in every 100 would be unscrupulous, at least 1 in 100 would be absolute psychopaths, and possibly 1 in 200 would be unscrupulous enough and have sufficient social/business skills to take it to the bank in a big way (I'm talking serious crime/spying/nation-selling).
There may be "Snowdens" out there that we don't know about - persons who are now selling us (corporations, person, and nations) down the river for a few million dollars.
The NSA has put the nation in a very precarious situation.
Re: Google knows nearly every Wi-Fi password in the world
#179Your WiFi password is only useful for someone who is within 100 feet of your house. If you have federal agents surveilling you from 100 feet away you have way bigger problems than your WiFi password.
I wish! My wifi password at work is useful over a much larger area. It is also the login password for my email, the course management system I use when teaching, and pretty much everything else job related. I work at a university "powering silicon valley." You would think they might be a little more careful about things like that...
Re: Google knows nearly every Wi-Fi password in the world
#180Your WiFi password is only useful for someone who is within 100 feet of your house. If you have federal agents surveilling you from 100 feet away you have way bigger problems than your WiFi password.
Aren't most wi-fi networks trivial to crack anyway?