Google Accused of Breach of Lawmakers' Home Wi-Fi Networks

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 previously admitted that it had accidentally collected "samples of payload data" information in a rather innocuous update to a month-old press release last month and released a report on the breach June 10. However, a advocacy group called Consumer Watchdog decided there needed to be more publicity to expose the "WiSpying" and the group decided to conduct its own experiment by sniffing out unsecured networks at Congress members' homes. Sure enough, they hit paydirt. This leaves little question that Google is currently in possession of sensitive data from the information networks used by members of Congress in their residences. Because of your position, we believe this is not just an invasion of privacy but an unwarranted intrusion by Google into legislative branch matters. In our view, you have the right to demand that Google disclose to you any information it has collected regarding your home wireless networks.

Source: http://www.pcworld.com/article/200779/Google_Slammed_For_Wi_Fi_Breach_of_Lawmakers_Home_Networks.html?tk=rss_news