Google is under scrutiny for its “accidental” gathering of wi-fi data while driving about photographing the world with its Street View camera cars. In the court of public opinion Google’s actions cross ethical boundaries, but whether or not the activities were illegal depends on the laws in place for the given jurisdiction. Businesses in the United States should understand that the interception of publicly available data traversing the airwaves is probably not illegal. Google didn’t “steal” anything, or even violate any expectation of privacy per se.”]
Source: https://www.csoonline.com/article/2125269/google-wi-fi-data-capture-unethical–but-not-illegal.html