zlacker

>>jakobd+(OP)
Google seems to be escalating the speed of its efforts to restrict its user base to the completely non-technical, but Apple and Facebook already own that market.

It also sounds like they're promoting yet another way to make "the internet" slower, more bloated, and have greater impediments to usage.

>>BLKNSL+I6
I have never understood why Google has remained the esteemed vendor for a subset of technical users.

They lost me more than a decade ago when they hoovered clear text passwords from their wifi scanning and blamed it on a single engineer.

>>doctor+Uh
Are you referring to Google Maps automobiles connecting to open WiFi networks? Because to be fair, those networks were wide open, and they were being advertised.

I don't see how advertising an open WiFi network is much different from advertising an open house. In both cases you should expect visitors.

>>dumpst+Lt
An open wifi network is akin to having the shades open or your door unlocked.

You can take advantage of it, but almost everyone is going to feel like it's not right unless they have consent.

An open house would be akin to have an open wifi network labeled "PleaseUseMe".

>>Negati+lw
I disagree. An open WiFi network that is not being advertised would be similar to leaving a door unlocked or the shades open. When that network is actively advertised it ceases to be an open blind, and moves into open house territory.

>>dumpst+nx
The splitting of hairs between “open” and “advertised” is ridiculous. It’s the users who had their passwords stolen, not the hotspot.

A better analogy is:

I leave my door open with a welcome sign out the front.

Two people enter.

One of them picks the pocket of the other.

And then the thief blames the guy who told him about the open door in the first place.

>>doctor+4i1
To be clear, my stance on the matter is that it is 100% okay for anyone to connect to any open WiFi network.

I don't find it particularly troublesome that maps of open WiFi networks exist.

I do not, however, think that it's okay to behave maliciously, or inappropriately on open WiFi networks.

My earlier response to your comment about hoovering plain text passwords didn't properly acknowledge the bad behavior that took place. I concede that you are correct, it was rude and insidious behavior.

>>dumpst+ST4
No worries, thanks for being a good sport. I think we agree all around.

It was never the connecting that bothered me, it was the storage of the data encountered.