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Google Readies for Wi-Fi
Google’s web site describes a beta Wi-Fi service called Google Secure Access.
Notices on Google’s web site on Tuesday offer a downloadable Wi-Fi client application known as Google Secure Access, suggesting that Google may be close to launching a Wi-Fi service.
“Google Secure Access is a downloadable client application that allows users to establish a more secure Wi-Fi connection,” said the notice on the company’s FAQ page. Another page offers a download of the application and states, “Your wireless connection is almost ready to use.”
The service is currently only available at “certain locations in the San Francisco Bay Area,” according to the FAQ. Google set up a hotspot in April in San Francisco ’s Union Square .
Google acquired the wireless technology company Android in July and has reportedly been buying up dark fiber-optic wiring in different locations around the country for broadband access.
The company’s second stock offering earlier this month raised considerable funds that could enable the Mountain View , California , search giant to expand into becoming an infrastructure provider (see Google’s $7B Question).
Google shares were up $5.09 at $308.88 in recent trading.
VPN Service
The Secure Access service connects users to a virtual private network (VPN) that encrypts the traffic and sends it through Google servers to the Internet. Google said it wanted to make Wi-Fi access more secure with its new service.
Despite Google’s prior moves into the Wi-Fi industry, the FAQ page describes the project as the result of a Google engineer’s own maverick ingenuity on his downtime. Google provides time for its engineers to work on independent research projects.
“One of our engineers recognized that secure Wi-Fi was virtually nonexistent at most locations,” said the FAQ. “As a result, he used his 20 percent project time to begin an initiative to offer users more secure Wi-Fi access. Google Secure Access is the result of this endeavor.”
On a privacy policy page, Google describes how the service will help protect users’ privacy.
“Using insecure networks, such as public wireless networks, can leave your Internet traffic open to snooping by others in the vicinity of the wireless network,” said the page. “Google Secure Access helps address this problem by encrypting all traffic to and from your machine and passing it from the insecure network through a trusted gateway.”
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According to several pages on Google’s website, Google is launching a free WiFi service. This program, called '''''Google Secure Access''''', creates a Virtual Private Network allowing secure access to the Internet. ''Google Secure Access'' encrypts all traffic to and from a user’s machine while the user is connected to the wireless access point.

Google provides its engineers with time to work on independent research projects. ''Google Secure Access'' was created as an independent research project by a Google engineer after he discovered that WiFi was insecure at most locations.

According to the ''Google Secure Access FAQ'', the service is only available at "certain Google WiFi locations in the San Francisco Bay Area". According to some reports, the service is working from some independent (non-Google) WiFi locations in NYC.

Like many of Google’s other popular services such as Gmail, ''Google Secure Access'' is still in the beta testing stage.