Sniffing open WiFi may be wiretapping judge tells Google
Looks like Google Street View cars may have been "officially" riding dirty and Google may get slapped hard for its Wi-Spy fiasco. A federal judge did not dismiss the case against Google; instead in the first such decision of its kind, the judge ruled that sniffing open Wi-Fi packets might violate the Federal Wiretap Act.
Remember when intelligence gathering ability was allegedly "going dark" due to the masses moving to VoIP like Skype and the feds had wanted CALEA to require a backdoor so law enforcement can intercept online encrypted communication? Microsoft's "Legal Intercept" patent to monitor VoIP may be the easy-access eavesdropping the feds were hoping for, but it also wasn't too long ago when the FBI was seeking Google's help in wiretapping. It's doubtful the kind of wiretapping help the FBI wanted would have included when the Internet search giant intercepted packets on non-password-protected Wi-Fi networks. But now Google may be legally liable for wiretapping in regards to the 600GB "payload" of MAC addresses, usernames, emails, passwords and other "private" data gobbled up by Street View mapping vehicles.
