Google and Skyhook mapping the location of your WiFi router

[tmetro-blu-5a1Jt6qxUNc at public.gmane.org (Tom Metro)]

Scott Ehrlich wrote:
> http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2010/04/google-talks-street-view-wifi-collection-details.ars

Quoting the article:
> It's the WiFi information that has gotten Google into trouble
> recently, with German officials asserting that this type of data
> collection is illegal there. Fleischer says the company collects SSID
> information as well as the MAC addresses of WiFi routers it
> encounters along the Street View route--this is for use in Google's
> location-based services, a la Skyhook Wireless' services that are
> widely used on mobile devices without GPS. Google insists that it
> only collects SSID and MAC information on routers that broadcast the
> names publicly, as that information is accessible by anyone walking
> down the street with a WiFi-compatible device.
> 
> What Google doesn't do is make this data--at least in its raw
> form--available to the public. Google claims that some other
> providers do make the MAC addresses available, but the company
> distills the information down to a triangulated code through its
> geolocation API so that services like Google Maps or Twitter can make
> use of the location data. In an attached letter (PDF) to a number of
> data protection agencies, Google wrote that any speculation about
> Google making a map or list of WiFi access points is false, and that
> it does not collect payload data (information on what devices are
> connected to each network).
> 
> In the post, Fleischer made the point several times that other
> services collect the same data and, in some cases, make it more
> public than Google.

I was just going to post something about Skyhook, which I recently
learned about via this podcast:
http://www.grc.com/sn/sn-246.txt (transcript; search for "Skyhook")

Similar to Google, Skyhook employs cars that "war drive" to collect WiFi
router MAC addresses and their geographic location. They then provide
this information to subscribers who want to supplement or substitute for
GPS location services.

The podcast above talks about the service being used by an iPad, which
lacks GPS hardware.

You can try looking up your neighborhood routers in Skyhook's database:
http://www.skyhookwireless.com/howitworks/coverage.php

I ran "iwlist wlan0 scan" to get a list of local addresses and tried
looking up a bunch. All but two returned "unknown address." Of the two
that were found, it said one was in Sweden and the other in the Czech
Republic. So maybe it doesn't work so well.

 -Tom

-- 
Tom Metro
Venture Logic, Newton, MA, USA
"Enterprise solutions through open source."
Professional Profile: http://tmetro.venturelogic.com/