Google’s Future Plans for Its Location-based Services

Google has stopped using Google Streetview cars to collect WiFi Positioning data. You can check to see if your access point’s MAC address is in Google’s WiFi positioning database by using our Ouilookup tool.

Below is information from a report released by The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada explaining the privacy issues with Google Streeview’s WiFi data collection process.

Google still intends to offer location-based services, but does not intend to resume collection of WiFi data through its Street View cars. Collection is discontinued and Google has no plans to resume it.

Google does not intend to contract out to a third party the collection of WiFi data.

Google intends to rely on its users’ handsets to collect the information on the location of WiFi networks that it needs for its location-based services database. The improvements in smart-phone technology in the past few years have allowed Google to obtain the data it needs for this purpose from the handsets themselves.

Although it has no tracking tool to keep records of a customer’s locations (and does not intend to create one), Google acknowledges that it does need to examine the potential privacy concerns of this method of collection.

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Filed under: WLAN Security