Google’s Wi-Fi spygate troubles have only just begun

Google probably thought it was tossing water on that smoldering Wi-Fi spying controversy by releasing the full version of that FCC report a few days ago — turns out it was gasoline instead. Now Google is looking at a raging inferno that could engulf the company.

In mid-April, after the FCC released a heavily redacted version of its report with entire pages inexplicably blacked out, the Electronic Privacy Information Center filed a Freedom of Information Act request asking for the full monty. Roughly two weeks later, Google released its own version of the same report with only the names of its employees redacted. The company did it on a Saturday, apparently hoping the blogosphere would be too hung over to notice, and that it would keep EPIC and others from finding out anything that wasn’t in the report.

[ Also on InfoWorld: Cringely isn’t impressed with Google’s games with lies, spies, and our Wi-Fi. | For a humorous take on the tech industry’s shenanigans, subscribe to Robert X. Cringely’s Notes from the Underground newsletter. | Get the latest insight on the tech news that matters from InfoWorld’s Tech Watch blog. ]

Boy, were they wrong. The L.A. Times’ Jessica Guynn jumped on the story, followed shortly by everyone else. It took the New York Times just two days to unveil the real identity of Engineer Doe, the alleged “rogue employee” who used the 20 percent do-your-own-thing time Google gives its developers to come up with gStumbler, the data-slurping software at the heart of this mess.

His name? Marius Milner, better known to many geeks as the creator of NetStumbler, the original wardriving software. Milner, who declined to speak to the FCC, also declined to speak to the Times, not surprisingly. But I doubt he’ll be able to stay silent for very long.

Consumer Watchdog, an advocacy group that has had Google in its crosshairs for years, jumped on this with both feet, filing another FOIA request [PDF] for all documents related to the FCC’s investigation. European regulators who had concluded their investigations of Google’s Wi-Fi spying may soon reopen them, now that they know how bogus Google’s “rogue employee” defense truly is. Heck, even the U.S. Congress may open up hearings, if only to further demonstrate its complete ignorance of any technology more advanced than the rotary phone.

Any hope Google may have had that it could put its Wi-Fi spygate problems in the rearview mirror and drive on has just hit a tree.

Google still claims its intent in wardriving was merely to improve its ability to locate mobile devices by using the coordinates of open Wi-Fi networks, which is much more accurate than triangulating between cell towers; it can also work indoors and other places where GPS doesn’t. That’s how services like Foursquare know where you are or how your smartphone can tell you the location of the nearest ATM. That alone is not a bad thing.

And Google isn’t the first company to do this. Skyhook has been building a database of open Wi-Fi networks for years. But all Skyhook collects are the bits of data necessary for this task: the network SSID, signal strength, and the physical location of the network.

In fact, Skyhook CEO Ted Morgan says he looked at collecting more data to make Skyhook’s database of open nets more accurate. But he rejected the idea, saying it wouldn’t provide any benefits. He told the Times: “Google is routinely grabbing a lot more data.”

Ya think?

Now a number of the regulars here in Cringeville believe people who leave their Wi-Fi networks secured unsecured deserve whatever they get. I don’t agree. I thought the Wi-Fi spying was pretty egregious even when I still believed it really was a “mistake,” the actions of one misguided geek. After having read the full FCC report, I’m convinced important people at Google knew that Wi-Fi spying was going on and allowed it to happen and Google lied about it afterward.

Remember the old Watergate line: It’s not the crime, it’s the cover-up that gets you in the end. And that, more than the data slurping, is what may get Google.

If Google gets got, what punishment should it get? Post your ideas below or email me: cringe@infoworld.com.

This article, “Google’s Wi-Fi spygate troubles have only just begun,” was originally published at InfoWorld.com. Follow the crazy twists and turns of the tech industry with Robert X. Cringely’s Notes from the Field blog, and subscribe to Cringely’s Notes from the Underground newsletter.