[LibWhacker]

Got Wifi?

[jessduntno]

“Demonstrating the attack, Mr Kamkar located one router to within nine metres of its real world position.”

Does it tell you how far from the computer the shotgun is?

[bigbob]

Not to sound like I’m endorsing this idea, but think about how handy it could be, in the case say of a pervert who has kidnapped a kid, or some whacko putting bomb together in his basement. Just sayin...

The problem would be - who do you trust to maintain such a database even if you wanted to? Certainly not the gummint!

[philman_36]

Nobody has shown up yet.
BTW, scumbag hackers, I'm a 2nd Amendment proponent who resides in the great State of Texas so some critical thinking might be necessary before you consider any late night visits 'for kicks'.

[Billthedrill]

Any "attacker" who can't find me through the phone book is pretty lame. I like router security, but I love Mr. Shotgun.

[TheOldLady]

So many people have a little gadget on their sites that’s supposed to tell you where you are. They never even get my state right, let alone the city I’m near. I’m not worried. I think my ISP routs me through a different city in another state every time I sign on.

[Soothesayer9]

So does this defeat the Tor browser plugin?

[HangThemHigh]

On most routers you can pick the MAC address. Just changing your MAC address to something different from the address you had when Google invaded your neighborhood defeats this attack. I changed mine twice this week (even though I hadn’t heard of this attack) installing a new router.

This might require registration of the new number with your ISP, but Comcast doesn’t seem to care.

[Chode]

mine's at the phone company...

[usconservative]

He then coupled the ID information, known as a MAC address, with a geo-location feature of the Firefox web browser. This interrogates a Google database created when its cars were carrying out surveys for its Street View service.

So Google collected WiFi information as well as picture and other information for it's "street view" on Google Maps, and now hackers can find anyone who's house has been pictured on Google StreetView by simply querying corresponding address and WiFi information that Google has collected.

F'ing great. And Google was a major contributor to the Obama 2008 campaign. Any wonder what the Obama Administration is going to use this information for as they "shut down the net" now that Obama's authorized to do that?

I can only hope that the Republican Party has a big enough pair of balls to investigate and prosecute Google for this in 2011.

Nah, what was I thinking? Of course they won't.