Inside Google

Google Slammed For Wi-Fi Breach of Lawmakers’ Home Networks

Barbara Hernandez

Google has been accused of drive-by spying on members of Congress, including those involved with homeland security, by uploading e-mail or Website viewing information while mapping for its Google Street View. According to a government watchdog group several members of Congress have unsecured wireless networks, including Rep. Jane Harman, D-CA, who heads the intelligence subcommittee for the House Homeland Security committee, and whose home was discovered to house unsecured networks named “harmanmbr” and “harmantheater.”

Google Removes WiFi Gear from Street View Cars

Clint Boulton

Meanwhile, Consumer Watchdog said July 8 that Google’s WiSpy snooping could have sucked up and recorded communications from members of Congress. The consumer advocacy group said Rep. Jane Harman, D-Calif., chair of the Intelligence Subcommittee of the Homeland Security Committee, has at least one wireless network in her Washington, D.C., home that could have been breached by Google.

Google Downplays Claim It May Have Breached Lawmakers’ Home Networks

Jaikumar Vijayan

Consumer Watchdog, a Santa Monica, Calif.-based advocacy group that has been a sharp critic of Google’s privacy practices in the past, said Thursday that the search giant may have breached the networks while its vehicles were collecting wireless SSID information for the company’s Street View service.

Google Accused of US “Snooping”

Maggie Shiels

Google’s popular Street View project may have collected personal information of members of Congress, including some involved in national security issues. The claim was made by leading advocacy group, Consumer Watchdog which wants Congress to hold hearings into what data Google’s Street View possesses.

Sniffing in StreetView’s Tracks

Richard Waters

Google’s horrendous breach of privacy with its StreetView data-collection gaffe may at least have one beneficial consequence: making WiFi users think more about security. Consumer Watchdog, which has emerged as one of the main anti-Google agitators, decided to follow in the tracks of the StreetView cars – literally. It sent out its own vehicle to “sniff” the WiFi networks of certain members of the US Congress whose homes have been photographed by the Google service.

Consumer Group Says Google May Have Tapped State Secrets

Kitty Felde

To find out, Consumer Watchdog picked five members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee and drove around their D.C. homes. Using software downloaded from the Internet, they determined one of the five – Democrat Jane Harman of El Segundo – was using two unsecured networks.

Consumer Watchdog Wades Into ‘SpyFi’ Fiasco

Tony Romm

COULD GOOGLE SPY-FI SNIFF OUT LAWMAKERS? Maybe, stresses Consumer Watchdog, a longtime, vocal Google critic. The group plans to make the case at a press conference on Thursday that Google’s Street View team not only intercepted unsuspecting Web users’ data transmitted over unsecured private networks, but is capable of doing the same with lawmakers’ sensitive information as well.

Google WiSpying Hit Congress; National Security Data Could Have Been Gathered

John M. Simpson

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Google’s WiSpy snooping could have sucked up and recorded communications from members of Congress, some of whom are involved in national security issues, an investigation by Consumer Watchdog’s InsideGoogle.com has found.

Press Release

Google’s travel plans prompt dominance concerns

CONTACT: Margot Williams

Google’s purchase of a leading travel software company last week has competitors worried and antitrust regulators on alert.

Google exec tries hard sell on cloud computing

Margot Williams

Google’s campaign for federal government cloud computing contracts came to Capitol Hill today with a top executive telling the House government oversight committee hearing that cloud computing is more secure than current agency-hosted information services.