[citation][nom]itpro[/nom]...then I must conclude that you work for Google and are desperately trying to preserve their now tainted image.[/citation]
First disclosure. I am not connected with Google at all and I have questioned Google's data collection policies before, but in this case most of the attacks are coming from people with questionable background and expertise. Now let me try to answer your questions and please don't make me regret it later.
[citation][nom]itpro[/nom]And for my final question, why are more people not outraged at the total lack of respect for privacy displayed by Google?[/citation]
Let me start with your final question with example. If you are in your home and having loud conversation with your girlfriend (you can replace it with whoever you want) and I pass by you and overhear you conversation, did I violated your privacy? Absolutely NOT. I am on the public place and you are speaking loud. Google did exactly that. They drove their car on public street an listen for Wi-Fi transmissions.
[citation][nom]itpro[/nom]What does it have to do with their Street View project?[/citation]
You probably know how GPS works, right! You know that GPS does not work very well in side city with big buildings and does not work at all in urban canyons like NYC and most European cities. In order to find you location you need to use other references. One way to do this is to listen for signals from radio transmitters. By driving down on the street Google and all other companies are recording position of the radio sources (Wi-Fi routers). That way when you go there with your iPhone and have trouble getting good GPS fix the phone will listen for Wi-Fi signals and try to calculate your position. This is done by recording the MACs and SSIDs. As I said before this is public data and there is no privacy claims here.
[citation][nom]itpro[/nom]Sal-e, whether it is encrypted or not it is still quite disturbing that Google is out collecting the data in the first place. What legitimate purpose does this serve? [/citation]
So, collecting MACs and SSIDs is done not only by Google, but by any company that provide Wi-Fi location services and their users. But not only them. That is how Wi-Fi actually works. First you listen for broadcast in order to discover APs around you. There is second phase. Once you located the APs you need to establish connection session. If you AP is not encrypted anyone can establish session. This is defined by the standard and licensed by FCC and any other country that allow Wi-Fi devices. If you connection is not encrypted you don't have expectation for privacy. It is like taking a megaphone and start speaking in the park and claim that no one should listen or record your speech.
[citation][nom]itpro[/nom]If you consider my making a valid point about Google's very well documented spying (now under investigation in 10 countries) trolling,... [/citation] Now, why Google is under investigation in 10 countries. Because Google never intended to record the payload data during their scanning activities. Unfortunately for them they used product called Kismet [1] that records some of that data into the log file. It records small chunks of data not the entire session. But never the less in this chunks of data could be found information that could be sensitive. So when Google discover this they did:
[3]
1. ... grounded all Google Street View Cars. Until the issues are resolved.
2. ... identified all the data and quickly moved it in to secure storage of their network.
3. ... took that data off-line. So nobody has access to it.
4. ... Reported the incident to all affected countries. (What a stupid spy Google is, to surrender them self!)
5. ... Invaded external auditors to assist in handling and destroying the data based on requirements from each country.
Now how many other people or companies have taken those steps? NONE. So you see, none of your points are valid at all.
So let me ask you a question. What did you do when the USA Congress renewed the Patriot Act and gave immunity to AT&T and Verizon for assisting in the past and continuing assistance the government in warrantless spying of all USA citizens? And I mean all, not only one suspected in terrorist activities. Practically all international phone calls are routed to NSA. [2]
[1] http://www.kismetwireless.net/
[2]
http://www.eff.org/issues/nsa-spying
[3]
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/05/wifi-data-collection-update.html
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