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Wi-Spy Google Engineer Outed As 'Hacker' 'God' Marius Milner

This article is more than 10 years old.

At right is Marius Milner, formerly known as Engineer Doe, the Googler who created a Wi-Fi sniffing code which allowed Street View cars to suck up usernames, passwords, emails, and at least one conversation between two people planning an extra-marital affair. Google had previously declined to identify him publicly, but a state investigator who had been looking into the "Wi-Spy" case revealed Milner's name to the New York Times.

When the Wi-Spy mess was originally revealed in 2010, Google said it was an accident, due to code mistakenly created by a rogue engineer. But subsequent federal investigations into the incident revealed that Milner clearly stated his attentions in design documents (that his supervisors claim they didn't read). He hoped the snapshots of where people were and what they were doing might be useful for other Google projects.

Milner, now an employee at YouTube, is thought of as a "god" among engineers for creating NetStumbler, a tool for detecting wireless access points. On a LinkedIn page that has since been taken down, he described himself as a "hacker" who knows "more than I want to about Wi-Fi," reports the IBTimes. Meanwhile, Geekwire reports that Milner is listed as an inventor on a Google patent filed in 2007 for technology to protect against "hackers and other ne’er-do-wells [who] may seek to tap into communications on a network." *Irony alert*

Milners Google Plus page reveals that he is an avid apiarist and enjoys posting and writing about food. He is also a semi-active tweep. On March 12, he tweeted that he was having the "strangest day ever", in part because of talks with police. He did not elaborate on whether or not that had to do with the Google Wi-Spy investigation. During the investigation by the FCC, Milner plead the Fifth, declining to provide evidence that could be used against him. He also declined to talk to the NYTimes, referring them to his lawyer, who also had no comment.

Because he designed a code that has launched multiple state and federal investigations around the world, he is rightfully fearful of being prosecuted. Thus far, no individual charges have been filed against him. And in the ongoing class-action lawsuit in California over Wi-Spy, Google is arguing that it did nothing wrong in sucking up sensitive information from unsecured Wi-Fi networks. Google says that anyone using such a network is essentially broadcasting their online activity on a radio channel, and that tuning in shouldn't be illegal. We'll see if that holds up in court.

Honestly, I'm a little shocked it took this long to identify Milner. As Google well knows, information like this likes to be found.