Free Republic

A federal judge ruled that Google can be sued for wiretapping after sniffing open Wi-Fi in Wi-Spy privacy lawsuit about wardriving Street View vehicles.Looks like Google Street View cars may have been "officially" riding dirty and Google may get slapped hard for its Wi-Spy fiasco. A federal judge did not dismiss the case against Google; instead in the first such decision of its kind, the judge ruled that sniffing open Wi-Fi packets might violate the Federal Wiretap Act. Remember when intelligence gathering ability was allegedly "going dark" due to the masses moving to VoIP like Skype and the feds had...

A new interface lets you keep your phone in your pocket and use apps or answer calls by tapping your hand. Over time, using your smart-phone touch screen becomes second nature, to the point where you can even do some tasks without looking. Researchers in Germany are now working on a system that would let you perform such actions without even holding the phone—instead you'd tap your palm, and the movements would be interpreted by an "imaginary phone" system that would relay the request to your actual phone. The concept relies on a depth-sensitive camera to pick up the tapping...

Google, Apple also gather location data via computers: report SAN FRANCISCO, April 26 (Xinhua) -- Google Inc. and Apple Inc. also collect location data from computers, according to new reports in the U.S. media Tuesday amid privacy concerns over the technology giants tracking mobile phone users. The two companies obtained the information after a computer scans the area around itself for available Wi-Fi wireless networks, typically after users give a website permission to determine the computer's approximate location, The Wall Street Journal said in a report on its website. Google is believed to gather the location data through software in...

You know where this is going. They got the wrong guy. Someone else had used Covert’s wireless connection to download child porn. Law enforcement officials say the case is a cautionary tale. It sure is. I can certainly think of some lessons we might draw. One might be: Maybe the cops should check to see if a suspect’s wireless network is secure, and therefore that they have the right guy, before they break into his home and point their guns at his head. Another lesson: Maybe it’s not such a good idea to send the SWAT team after someone suspected...

A new, ultra-fast wireless Internet network is threatening to overpower GPS signals across the U.S. and interfere with everything from airplanes to police cars to consumer navigation devices. The problem stems from a recent government decision to let a Virginia company called LightSquared build a nationwide broadband network using airwaves next to those used for GPS. Manufacturers of GPS equipment warn that strong signals from the planned network could jam existing navigation systems. A technical fix could be expensive — billions of dollars by one estimate — and there's no agreement on who should pay. Government officials pledge to block...

Cell phone carriers have a secret: Although they sell us data plans on their 3G or 4G networks, the idea of us actually using data brings them out in a cold sweat. Put simply, they're struggling to find the bandwidth to cope. There are forecasts that in 2012 cellular data requirements will reach 4.56 million terabytes--double that of this year. It's down to networks designed for low-bandwidth voice calls. Some data provision was allowed in the original plans but the recent explosion in consumer smartphones was a bolt from the blue. Whereas mobile users were once happy to visit low-bandwidth...

In what amounts to the next initiative undertaken by the Obama Administration towards its ever-expanding program of government expansion and nationalization of various aspects of the lives of the American people (such as the government takeover of health care, intervention in banks, and the nationalization of various automobile companies, such as General Motors), the federal government is now embarking upon a program of government-directed wireless internet (Wi-Fi) delivery.

Carlson Wireless and the Yurok Tribe hope to begin testing a new kind of Wi-Fi technology this week, bringing connectivity to a rural area where traditional Wi-Fi has difficulty operating. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has granted the Arcata-based Carlson Wireless an experimental license to operate its RuralConnect IP, a TV white-space band device that extends broadband service further than traditional Wi-Fi signals. The device uses a low frequency to transmit to locations within deep valleys or areas blocked by trees, according to the company. ”The reuse of this spectrum is a part of a much bigger rural broadband initiative,”...

Radiation from Wi-Fi networks is harmful to trees, causing significant variations in growth, as well as bleeding and fissures in the bark, according to a recent study in the Netherlands. Radiation from Wi-Fi networks is harmful to trees, causing significant variations in growth, as well as bleeding and fissures in the bark, according to a recent study in the Netherlands. All deciduous trees in the Western world are affected, according to the study by Wageningen University. The city of Alphen aan den Rijn ordered the study five years ago after officials found unexplained abnormalities on trees that couldn't be ascribed...

The long-awaited ability to use a cellphone or Wi-Fi connection on an aircraft might become a casualty of the latest aviation security threat. It was revealed on 29 October that parcels containing a powdered explosive packed in laser printer cartridges had travelled undetected on aircraft to the UK and to Dubai in the UAE. A cellphone connected to a detonation circuit could have allowed a terrorist to trigger an explosion by calling or texting the phone. This comes as the aviation industry is gearing up to provide broadband in-flight entertainment systems that feature both cellphone and Wi-Fi connections for passengers....

Chances are you don't leave your front door unlocked. And you shouldn't leave your Wi-Fi network unsecured either. Many of you may have heard this before, but many still seem to not be doing anything about it. You should. Here's why. With a $50 wireless antenna and the right software a criminal hacker located outside your building as far as a mile away can capture passwords, e-mail messages, and any other data being transmitted over your network, and even decrypt data that is supposedly protected.

I didn't get t-mobile's data plan. I was wondering if a wifi microsd card would work with the slot. I want it connected to my workplace network. thanks

How amazing would it be if you could walk into McTaco King and order that mid-morning bacon taco meal with Mountain Dew Big Gulp from your mobile device?  Just imagine… as you approach the restaurant, a menu pops up on your screen, the phone makes suggestions and helps you super-size your order, before you even set foot in the restaurant!Is there anything the IPad won't do? This advertiser’s wet dream is about to become reality, thanks to WPS (Wi-Fi Positioning System) infrastructure pioneered by CIA front company Skyhook (formerly Quarterscope) and currently being implemented by several other intelligence-connected companies, including...

Scientists have told us for years that Wi-Fi is safe. But concerned parents can be tough nuts to crack. Despite years of research and public education, some parents in Canada are blaming their children's illnesses on the wireless Internet routers installed in their schools, and they're calling for the setups to be removed.

A group of central Ontario parents is demanding their children's schools turn off wireless internet before they head back to school next month, fearing the technology is making the kids sick. Some parents in the Barrie, Ont., area say their children are showing a host of symptoms, ranging from headaches to dizziness and nausea and even racing heart rates. They believe the Wi-Fi setup in their kids' elementary schools may be the problem. The parents complain they can't get the Simcoe County school board or anyone else to take their concerns seriously, even though the children's symptoms all disappear on...

Reporting from San Francisco — Housed in an old San Francisco warehouse, Four Barrel Coffee — with its vintage record player, 53-year-old coffee roasting machine, tables hewn from recycled wood and wall of mounted boar heads — calls one of the world's most wired cities home. But don't expect to get an Internet connection there. Coffee connoisseurs hooked on this roaster's beans won't find a working signal — or even a power outlet. The uninitiated often try to plug into a fake one that owner Jeremy Tooker spray painted on the wall as a gag. "There are lots of marks...

Ain’t wireless technology grand? Tech companies keep finding unique and practical ways to use wireless applications in a range of uses. The latest is a wireless memory card for cameras (no more card readers!). The first one out was Eye-Fi and now Toshiba is talking about their version of this technology – Standard Promotion Forum for Memory Cards Embedding Wireless LAN, or “SPFfMCEWLAN” (the name is tentative). Toshiba released a press release yesterday explaining this new technology: “In recent years, as digital cameras have achieved huge rates of market penetration, the need for quick and easy way to share photographs...

UK based Nomad Digital says that it has recently been awarded a contract with train builder Talgo to deliver and operate a wireless broadband and live passenger information system on all Talgo's trains servicing their cross border route from Vancouver, Canada through Seattle, Portland and Eugene, Oregon. The project forms part of a train refurbishment programme that Talgo are undertaking. This new contract follows the launch of the passenger Wi-Fi service on the Amtrak Acela fleet on the 1st March 2010 and earlier contracts in Utah and New Mexico. The deployment will use Nomad's aggregation technology to make use of...

"We're gonna change the whole system. We're not gonna put a new battery in the system. No, no, we want a new system". -- Van Jones Glenn Beck talking about Google story -- Google is too far deeply in bed with the US government -- there are some 20 attorneys general investigating this. Something doesn't seem right. Please research this. I don't know what it is, but have a feeling it has something to do with internet regulations, net neutrality. I've been writing about this for weeks in my weekly column at World Net Daily. Keeping an eye on this...

Google (GOOG), already one of the key players in rapidly escalating debates about online privacy, this afternoon admitted that it has scooped up snippets of people’s online activities broadcast over wireless Wi-Fi networks over the past four years. The admission made this afternoon in Google’s official blog is likely to raise more worries about potential online privacy breaches, an issue that in the past week has focused most directly on social networking site Facebook.