Yes. They are called probe requests, and can be easily intercepted and viewed. Multiple programs exist to grab these requests off the air and stand up wireless networks with that SSID.[1]
The large volume of vulnerabilities coming out of OpenSSL are worrying, but it likely reflects the increased effort being put into auditing and fuzzing the code after Heartbleed. What is more worrying is the many other critical pieces of software that have nowhere near the level of scrutiny that OpenSSL is receiving currently.
This is a typical example of rent seeking behaviour. Companies spending money on lobbying without creating wealth. Unfortunately tax is one of the core functions of government and will always be vulnerable to this sort of manipulation of the political process.
This is a good example of the Tu quoque[1] logical fallacy. Just because America may have its own problems, or be hypocritical in some sense, does not mean that they should not criticise the international community. Hypocrisy does not invalidate the argument.
http://www.devttys0.com/2014/10/reversing-d-links-wps-pin-al...