In message , at
21:32:02 on Wed, 28 Aug 2013, John Rumm
remarked:
Google collect(ed) wireless nats with their streetview cars, and
combined it with addresses. For a time it was possible to get that info
from their database.

Not at all relevant from the point of view of someone at the other end
of the connection though.

If you connect to my server via wifi, I have no visibility of the SSID
that you are connected via.

But an application you are running on your server could ask my laptop
where it's located. And quite possibly in a way that "I" didn't realise
it was happening routinely.

The information google connected is only of use if you are at the wifi
end, where you can then relate an SSID (or possibly a MAC address) to a
geographic location. Something as the user you know anyway,

I often don't know where I, my laptop or my phone, am. That's why there
are location services.

but a handy hint for a passing satnav perhaps.

For example "where is the nearest bus stop", "log my position into
Foursquare", "in which direction is the GSM mast I'm connected to", and
so on. [And I never use my laptop or phone as a satnav, although clearly
one could if one wanted to].
--
Roland Perry