Itinerant data collection
My government is upset with Google. Too much data captured while driving up and down the road in front of people’s homes.
I’m sorry, but I just want to know “How?”. Obviously, the commercial war-drivers have much better equipment than me. Over the last few summers, access to free wi-fi has been important. Camping may be good for the soul, but a day without trivia and torrents is just not the same. And, in my quest for the elusive signal, I’ve learned that streetside is insufficient.
In fact, parking inside the coffee shop and ordering bad java might get you an access code, but you still have to sit with your back and laptop oriented “just so” if you want to stay connected. Ditto for the sessions in parking lots outside motels and upscale B&Bs. Ditto for sidewalk seating in the urban jungle. Stay perfectly still and you might get to Google. I’ve even had to perch in the bathtub (dry run) in a hotel in Sydney.
And now the government wants me to believe that the “First Do No Evil” gang managed to capture “highly sensitive personal information such as complete e-mails” while driving those funky little cars all around the town.
Frankly, I don’t buy it. The average home router barely gets out of the basement, although there are rumours of neighbourhoods where you can hang on the net from the apartment next door. It’s a pretty big jump from there to data collection by an itinerant auto. And although the geolocation possibilities are endless, knowing that you just passed 17 access points where the SSID is D-Link is nothing more than a reflection of sales patterns at the local big box store.
