Fun with Google
I'm really getting sick of this inability to stay up beyond 10pm thing I seem to have going on right now; every time I try I promptly fall asleep, find I've typed something incomprehensible at about 4am, then wake up as the light comes through my window. This is not success.
Meanwhile, what the bloody blazes?
"The “pay-load” data collected by Google’s Street View cars did not slurp up “meaningful personal details”, the UK’s privacy watchdog concluded today. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) confirmed in April that it would quiz Google about the practice. Today it ruled (pdf) that the company hadn’t grabbed information that “could be linked to an identifiable person.”" -- Source
How does a MAC address and IP not point towards a very specific individual or subset of individuals? The Home Office code of practice defines it as being personal data that ISPs should retain for 6 months along with your login. Even if that's not enough, pair it with knowledge of their physical location and a computer broadcast name and you're done. But wait!
"The ICO said it had only seen samples of some of the data Google inadvertently collected via its Street View vehicles, and admitted that other authorities investigating the practice could yet find information that might be easily linked to an individual.
“However, on the basis of the samples we saw we are satisfied so far that it is unlikely that Google will have captured significant amounts of personal data,” said the ICO..." -- Source
I cannot get over this press release; I was basically struck dumb with amazement. Here it is, by the way. I would love to know who provided the samples - a detail which is completely absent. Did they randomly grab a certain percentage of traffic - and if so, how much - or were they handed some nice innocuous stuff by Google? There's no record-keeping nor auditry visible to the public, only a twee little document saying, in effect: "It's all good, guys, the stuff we saw is probably fine, I'm sure the rest of it's okay but we're too lazy to check, go wild if you want but ehn." What happens if every other country rules against Google? We look terrible and our ICO looks even more powerless than it's recently been proven to be.
(Also, what the hell is a 'significant' amount of personal data? There isn't one magical point where personal data flips from kindly bits of data that might have your name attached to a ravenous illegal thing.)
In other news I bought Minecraft.
Meanwhile, what the bloody blazes?
"The “pay-load” data collected by Google’s Street View cars did not slurp up “meaningful personal details”, the UK’s privacy watchdog concluded today. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) confirmed in April that it would quiz Google about the practice. Today it ruled (pdf) that the company hadn’t grabbed information that “could be linked to an identifiable person.”" -- Source
How does a MAC address and IP not point towards a very specific individual or subset of individuals? The Home Office code of practice defines it as being personal data that ISPs should retain for 6 months along with your login. Even if that's not enough, pair it with knowledge of their physical location and a computer broadcast name and you're done. But wait!
"The ICO said it had only seen samples of some of the data Google inadvertently collected via its Street View vehicles, and admitted that other authorities investigating the practice could yet find information that might be easily linked to an individual.
“However, on the basis of the samples we saw we are satisfied so far that it is unlikely that Google will have captured significant amounts of personal data,” said the ICO..." -- Source
I cannot get over this press release; I was basically struck dumb with amazement. Here it is, by the way. I would love to know who provided the samples - a detail which is completely absent. Did they randomly grab a certain percentage of traffic - and if so, how much - or were they handed some nice innocuous stuff by Google? There's no record-keeping nor auditry visible to the public, only a twee little document saying, in effect: "It's all good, guys, the stuff we saw is probably fine, I'm sure the rest of it's okay but we're too lazy to check, go wild if you want but ehn." What happens if every other country rules against Google? We look terrible and our ICO looks even more powerless than it's recently been proven to be.
(Also, what the hell is a 'significant' amount of personal data? There isn't one magical point where personal data flips from kindly bits of data that might have your name attached to a ravenous illegal thing.)
In other news I bought Minecraft.