Google now offers the option for you to opt out from their mapping exercises with but a simple change on your side – all you need to do is add “_nomap” to the name that you have called your domestic Wi-Fi network, and that will stop phones that use your home as a position fix in Google Maps from doing so ever again. The idea behind this backdoor option? So that you can have more control over your privacy, although this might eventually lower the accuracy of Google’s commercial positioning service, but hey – there is always a price to pay for everything, no?
This is a welcome move, especially for those who were incensed by the Wi-Fi data sniffing operation that happened last year. Whenever you see a Google Street View car snap photos of the street around, it will also rely on a laser radar in order to obtain the shapes of buildings correctly in Google Earth, while searching the airwaves for a couple of key ID numbers on the Wi-Fi networks at each property – namely, the router’s Media Access Control (MAC) address and the Service Set Identifier (SSID). Those who were relaxed in securing their Wi-Fi networks also ended up with Google picking personal data in the process.
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