Not surprisingly, Google has indicated it has no plans to resurrect its Street View cars to collect information about the location of WiFi networks after the search giant faced a number of privacy questions after it revealed that it unintentionally captured unencrypted data.
Google revelation appeared in a report about Street View released by Canadian privacy commissioner Jennifer Stoddard. She said that "collection is discontinued and Google has no plans to resume it." Google had used the data to aid in geolocation services. Stoddard said that based on her conversations with Google, the company plans to glean the needed information from users' handsets. It appears the company is using crowdsourced data to refine its mapping capabilities.
Google's Maps Navigation includes a feature that enables users to request a location fix with the "use wireless networks" option checked in their settings. Their device then sends a list of all nearby addresses associated with wireless hotspots, which can be checked against Google's existing database of addresses gathered through the Street View project.
When Google Maps Navigation users requests a location fix with the "use wireless networks" option checked in their settings, their device sends over a list of all nearby addresses associated with wireless hot spots, which can in turn be checked against Google's existing database of those addresses gathered through the Street View project.
For more:
- see this Cnet article
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