Hey, You With the Open Wi-Fi: You're an Idiot
OMG! (As folks in more youthful circles text on their cell phones.) I'm finding it hard to believe the ridiculous furor over the Google Wi-Fi-sniffing Street View cars!
On the off chance that your last name is Van Winkle and you've just woken up, let me explain the issue: Google sent cars all over the world to photograph the highways and byways so that all of us virtual tourists can see, for example, what the Drax Arms in Shitterton, Dorset, England looks like from street level. The Googlemobiles sported not only cameras but also GPS receivers and (this is the biggie) Wi-Fi sniffing gear.
Having Wi-Fi equipment on board to map wireless hot spots would seem a logical thing to do, after all, Shitterton doesn't appear to have a Starbucks (making it unique in all of the known universe), so knowing whether the Drax Arms has Wi-Fi could be jolly useful should you be passing through Shitterton on your way to Winterbourne Abbas.