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Google Implements New Wi-Fi Opt Out

November 30, 2011

Google has agreed to give people worldwide the option of keeping the names and locations of their home or business Wi-Fi routers out of the company database. An article in the New York Times reported that the decision is a result of underlying pressure from privacy regulations in the Netherlands. 

According to the article, Google was found to have illegally collected information from 3.6 million routers in the Netherlands from March 2008 through May 2010 as it compiled its Street View mapping service. Google had faced a fine of $1.4 million from the Dutch agency for its illegal data collection if they did not adhere to the new agreement.

Google said it was using the information to help pinpoint the location of cellphones and other mobile devices within broadcast range of the routers for its Android operating system. Google also noted the information is also useful for weather and mapping services, among other things, and can allow the company to show relevant advertising for nearby businesses.

The Times reported that, under the agreement which was announced by Google and the Dutch Data Protection Authority, owners of Wi-Fi routers can add “_nomap” to the end of a router’s name to tell Google they do not want its information included.

Jacob Kohnstamm, chairman of the Dutch Data Protection Authority, said the agency would independently verify whether Google keeps its promise to remove the data once a router owner uses the new opt-out procedure. “Assuming Google follows through on its agreement, the fine will not be levied,” he noted.

In a statement, Google said the Wi-Fi location data could not be used to identify individuals. “Even though the wireless access point signals we use in our location services don’t identify people, we think we can go further in protecting people’s privacy,” Google said.

Kohnstamm called the agreement a positive step for consumer privacy. “We all hope that with enforcement actions like these, the bigger firms will use privacy by design from the start so we don’t need to go into enforcement mode,” he said.

This story highlights the tension that often exists between an organization’s intended use of the information it gathers and maintains, and the individual’s expectation that their information will be used only for the purposes for which it was collected. Privacy experts generally take the position that individuals should be able to exert control over how their information is used.

However, organizations generally advocate for a broader ability to use information for multiple purposes – some of which benefit the consumer and some of which are purely of commercial benefit to the company. Striking an appropriate balance between these two dynamics is an important goal of information protection policies at a national and internal level within an organization.

Diane Carlisle

NewsWire