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Comment by lupire | Hacker News Reader

Why would collecting publicly advertised information be illegal?

Lots of publicly available information is illegal to collect, for copyright reasons, privacy reasons, security reasons, etc.

Do you really want to make passive wardriving illegal? Literally anybody who sets up a wifi system has probably seen the list of other people's networks within a some-meter radius. How could you possibly think there's a reasonable expectation of privacy with your SSIDs?

I did not say I want to make it illegal, just pointing out that it’s not some completely bizarre idea.

I think it would be reasonable to have various restrictions on all kinds of large scale datasets, especially when they include data that is easy to connect to individuals, and especially when it was not compiled with their explicit (informed, opt-in) consent. This includes public information such as what I’m wearing, where I am at what times, when and where my wifi is on.

I'd think there's a difference between use and abuse

I get your sentiment, but there is a big difference between that information being publicly available somewhere and someone building a centralized private database of it.

At least, IF you assume that e.g. "database copyright" serves a valid purpose, then you could make a similar case here that the collection of all these data points is qualitatively different from collecting any single data point.

Note: I used a capital "IF" up there because I do have issues with database copyright. But that's the world we live in...

If they did the same tracking but to other phones instead of access points would that cross a line?

Are you uncomfortable with the idea of someone monitoring the ISM band and collecting information about what is being transmitted and by which stations? If so, maybe you should stop using wifi, since that is actually part of the wifi standard (your phone is literally monitoring transmissions on your neighbors' wifi networks to avoid interference).

The same way you cannot photograph people on the street and collect their facial image for processing.

They publicly advertise their face though, right?

Just the fact that information is available, it does not imply there is a consent for 3rd party to do anything with it.

Except you can? The courts (in the US) have consistently ruled that you have no expectation of privacy in the public square. ALPRs on police cars are perfectly legal if there’s no laws prohibiting them.

Sure, take a picture of someone, so his or her face is the main content of the picture and start posting it everywhere (it's your picture so you can do whatever you want, right?).

> ALPRs on police cars

Government is usually exempt from those things or have license.

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