Re: Google Maps offering to "map our locations"....concerns??

["Davis, Thomas R" <tdavis () IU EDU>]

Our counsel's office was involved in these discussions last year when Google wanted to street view one of our campuses. 
 I'm not sure exactly how they became involved, but I *think* it was by-way-of our media relations department.  Our 
primary concerns with "street view" at the time were privacy-related (e.g., capturing faces, people entering medical 
facilities, license plate numbers, through dormitory windows).  Google's response was:

"Google take peoples privacy very seriously. We use our state of the art blurring program to blur  out peoples faces 
all license plates to protect their privacy.  Unfortunately this blurring program is not accessible to users or 
partners. However, you can always request to have areas blurred out."

Of course, there is always the chance the an image would be missed.  There is a process in place to fix those images 
once discovered, but I'm sure it would take some time to accomplish.

For "indoor maps", an additional concern was safety.  Google uses "crowd sourced" floor plans for these, so the 
accuracy and validity cannot be guaranteed.  While the risks are somewhat minimal, someone could upload an inaccurate 
floor plan with malicious intent (e.g., to lure sometime to a secluded place in a building, direct them to a particular 
business instead of another[1], etc.).

Footnotes:
 [1] http://tinyurl.com/3c9ttpw

-- 
Tom Davis, CISSP, CISM
Chief Security Officer
Public Safety and Institutional Assurance
Indiana University
https://protect.iu.edu/tdavis
 

On Apr 17, 2012, at 7:55 AM, Tracy Mitrano wrote:

> In light of this thread, I asked on the NACUA list if Google approached any attorneys.  
>
> So far only one responded.   It was, for the record, a private institution.  
>
> Tracy
>
> On a mobile device, please excuse typos.  
>
> On Apr 17, 2012, at 6:50 AM, "Berman, Mark" <mberman () SIENA EDU> wrote:
>
> > Michael,
> >
> > I realize that for those of whose job includes security there is a responsibility to be a little paranoid, but this 
> > seems pretty harmless. Wearing another my hats of being responsible for the wireless network this seems very cool. 
> > They are offering to map the strength of our WiFi signal in the public areas of our campus. We don't intentionally 
> > provide wireless signal outdoors: here in the northeast there are only 2 weeks a year that the weather is conducive 
> > to sitting outside and working, otherwise it's too cold or it's raining or it's too sunny to see the screen! However 
> > a wireless heat map of the campus would be useful to students and useful to us to see if there are areas that we 
> > should pump up a bit. Most campuses have centrally controlled WiFi networks and I can't see any particular security 
> > risk to Google advertising the (after all) publicly viewable aspects of our networks.
> >
> > Am I missing something?
> >
> > - Mark
> >
> > From: "SCHALIP, MICHAEL" <mschalip () CNM EDU<mailto:mschalip () CNM EDU>>
> > Date: Mon, 16 Apr 2012 00:16:19 -0400
> > Subject: Google Maps offering to "map our locations"....concerns??
> >
> >
> > Hi Folks....
> >
> > Has anyone else been approached by Google Maps to allow them to "map your campus" in detail - presumably, for 
> > student navigation purposes??  Here's the "agreement" that they want us to sign off on.  I have some basic concerns, 
> > but - then again - my concerns may be completely unfounded.  So - I thought I'd offer this up to this group to see 
> > what your collective wisdom would respond with....(note the italicized entry)....
> >
> > Let me know what you all think....
> >
> >
> >
> > Thanks,
> >
> >
> >
> > Michael
> >
> > Agreement
> > We (the “Property Owner”, “Property Manager”, or “Property Operator”) hereby permit Google Inc. (through its 
> > employees, affiliates or agents) to enter the publicly accessible areas of the properties described above, at a time 
> > and in the manner directed by our designated contact person listed in the Signatory Information area below, to 
> > collect Location Information.
> >
> > For the purposes of this agreement, “Location Information” means Wi-Fi access point MAC addresses (also known as 
> > BSSIDs); Wi-Fi access point properties (including signal strength); mobile handset-generated compass, gyroscope and 
> > accelerometer measurements; and other related information.
> >
> > Google will abide by the property access rules specified by our designated contact person.
> >
> > Google must have suitable insurance coverage or self-insure for all of Google’s activities on the propert(ies).  
> > Google will be responsible for all costs of its data collection, and will be the exclusive owner of all right, title 
> > and interest in all data collected on the proper(ties).
> >
> > This letter does not give Google any intellectual property rights to our trademarks or logos.  Neither party will 
> > use the other’s name, trademark or logo in any public statement without the other’s permission.
> >
> > We affirm that we are either the Property Owner, the Property Manager, or the Property Operator, and that we have 
> > full power and authority to grant you the permission above.
> >
> >
> > --
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