Google: The StreetView Money Machine
October 22, 2010
I have now decided that StreetView is heading in a different direction. I don’t think the outrage over privacy has much to do with Wi-Fi sniffing or the dorky pictures of my house behind trees. StreetView is an ATM for countries. Here’s how it works. Country is outraged over Google Wi-Fi sniffing. Forget that the data are flying around because individuals run fast and loose. Forget that Google explained that it had one bad apple in the midst of a Japanese 7-11 stuffed full of perfect apples in little foam girdles. Forget that Google is really not sucking in Wi-Fi data any longer.
Read “Spain to fine Google over Street View.” My thought is that the ATM angle is evident in this passage:
The Spanish Data Protection Agency is preparing to fine Google over infractions against local data protection laws when it collected Wi-Fi data as part of its Street View service, it said in a statement on Monday.
Here’s how it works. Charge Google with a crime. Fine the Google. Collect Google bucks or Google Euros. Works for me and for cash strapped entities. I don’t feel too sorry for the GOOG, and I don’t feel sorry for the Spanish authorities. If I were in similar circumstances, why not see Google as a giant yellow ATM with a dinosaur skeleton in front of a building?
Easy money, right?
Stephen E Arnold, October 22, 2010
Freebie
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