[LINK] Google Drive-By Wifi Interception in US Courts

[Roger Clarke]

EPIC Alert April 12, 2012
<http://www.epic.org/alert/epic_alert_19.07.html>http://www.epic.org/alert/epic_alert_19.07.html

=======================================================================
[2] EPIC Urges Court to Affirm Privacy Protections for Home Wi-Fi
=======================================================================

EPIC has filed a "friend of the court" brief in the Ninth Circuit,
urging the court to uphold ECPA protections for home Wi-Fi
communications.

In the case Joffe v. Google, the plaintiffs sued Google under the
Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) for the interception and
capture of private communications transferred over residential Wi-Fi
networks. The interception occurred when Google's "Street View"
vehicles captured Wi-Fi network information and "payload" data.

Google contended that it should be exempt from liability under ECPA 
because users had failed to encrypt their Wi-Fi traffic and their 
personal communications, and were therefore "readily accessible to 
the general public."

The court found that the fact that "a network is unencrypted does not 
render that network readily accessible to the general public and 
serve to remove the intentional interception of electronic 
communications from that network from liability under the ECPA."

Google then appealed the court's ruling.

EPIC's brief for the Ninth Circuit, which contains a detailed technical
discussion of Wi-Fi technology, explains that residential Wi-Fi
networks differ significantly from the traditional radio broadcasts
subject to the ECPA exemption because Wi-Fi networks have a limited
range and enable point-to-point rather than broadcast communications.

EPIC also argues that consumers should not bear the burden of securing
their networks against sophisticated eavesdroppers; the brief further
states that the purpose of the ECPA is to protect such communications
from interception with legal sanctions that would be unnecessary if
security measures were sufficient.


EPIC:  "Friend of the Court Brief" in Joffe v. Google (Mar. 30, 2012)
 
  <http://epic.org/redirect/041112-joffe-amicus.html>http://epic.org/redirect/041112-joffe-amicus.html

US District Court:  Order in In re Google Street View (June 29, 2011)
 
  <http://epic.org/redirect/041112-streetview-order.html>http://epic.org/redirect/041112-streetview-order.html

EPIC:  Ben Joffe v. Google Inc.
 
  <http://epic.org/amicus/google-street-view/>http://epic.org/amicus/google-street-view/

EPIC:  Investigation of Google Street View Program
	<http://epic.org/privacy/streetview/>http://epic.org/privacy/streetview/

EPIC:  Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA)
	<http://epic.org/privacy/ecpa/>http://epic.org/privacy/ecpa/

========================================================================

-- 
Roger Clarke                                 http://www.rogerclarke.com/
			            
Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd      78 Sidaway St, Chapman ACT 2611 AUSTRALIA
                    Tel: +61 2 6288 1472, and 6288 6916
mailto:Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au                http://www.xamax.com.au/

Visiting Professor in the Faculty of Law               University of NSW
Visiting Professor in Computer Science    Australian National University