SFGate.com is running a story on how Google’s plan to give San Francisco free wi-fi will mean that Google will be able to track the location of anyone logged into its wi-fi network.
Privacy advocates are raising concerns about Google Inc.’s plans to cover San Francisco with free wireless Internet access, calling the company’s proposal to track users’ locations a potential gold mine of information for law enforcement and private litigators.
The Mountain View search engine intends to use the geographic data to match users with advertising so that they would see marketing messages from neighborhood businesses such as pizza parlors, cafes and book stores.
Aw, come on guys – sure this will allow Google to log your whereabouts – so what? Your mobile phone is already broadcasting your location to your mobile operator all the time it is switched on. The police can (and do) subpoena mobile operators for suspect’s location data.
Privacy has been an illusion for quite some time now.
UPDATE – I see AP have picked up this story now as well.
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I hate to burst anyones bubble out there but everything you do, every webpage you visit, every blog posting, forum comment and video viewed is recorded on a server somewhere. Time spent playing online video games, time spent on porn sites, time spent on hate group sites or political sites is not only recorded but logged and saved for any type of future investigations needed. The world wide web is not private AT ALL. The only private, unviewable or recordable things you can do is where you are connected PC to PC with no web involved.
So if you think you have been viewing things in the privacy of your own home, think again. Someone, somewhere, is watching you every move. whether you are a danger to anyone determines how much you are watched.
For the most of us, the recorders are not paying any attention to us at all. Just remember, “they” are and always will be recording your every move.