Google Desktop 3 danger alert!
p2p news / p2pnet: Don’t use the Search Across Computers feature in Google’s Desktop 3, out today, warns the EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation) emphatically.
It snags copies of users’ Word documents, PDFs, spreadsheets and other text-based documents on Google servers, in the process making personal data more vulnerable to subpoenas from the government and possibly private litigants, "while providing a convenient one-stop-shop for hackers who’ve obtained a user’s Google password," says the foundation.
"Unless you configure Google Desktop very carefully, and few people will, Google will have copies of your tax returns, love letters, business records, financial and medical files, and whatever other text-based documents the Desktop software can index," says EFF attorney Kevin Bankston.
"The government could then demand these personal files with only a subpoena rather than the search warrant it would need to seize the same things from your home or business, and in many cases you wouldn’t even be notified in time to challenge it.
"Other litigants – your spouse, your business partners or rivals, whomever – could also try to cut out the middleman (you) and subpoena Google for your files."
The privacy problems arise from the fact the Electronic Communication Privacy Act of 1986 (ECPA) gives only limited protection to emails and other files stored with online service providers – much less privacy than the legal protections for the same information when it’s on your computer at home, says the EFF, adding:
"And even that lower level of legal protection could disappear if Google uses your data for marketing purposes. Google says it is not yet scanning the files it copies from your hard drive in order to serve targeted advertising, but it hasn’t ruled out the possibility, and Google’s current privacy policy appears to allow it."
Also See:
out today – Google Copies Your Hard Drive – Government Smiles in Anticipation, February 9, 2006
last time around – Google releases Desktop 3, February 9, 2006
February 10th, 2006 at 12:52 am
i hate google and there 30 year old spying cookies too, google’s turning into one big ass, don’t google it yahoo it lol.
February 10th, 2006 at 3:12 am
The less software you install the less there is to go wrong.
February 10th, 2006 at 3:21 am
So if some of these documents are in fact manuals and readme’s from games i’ve purchased (yes it does happen) won’t that open Google up to charges of “Stealing” those files?
After all, you’re not allowed to copy any part of the game, and that includes any documentation provided. So the first time anyone who has any games on their pc uses the feature, Google’s gonna be at risk of being sued or charged by the publishers who “own” those files.
February 10th, 2006 at 4:56 am
why do people use this? why can’t they just take the 3 seconds to organize their files as they are created?
As for using google’s software -thanks but not thanks.
February 10th, 2006 at 5:17 am
heh what a stupid comment about yahooing it… google is awesome and you’re apparently either a paranoid anti-social freak, a privacy fanatic, or just a plain, old idiot.
i’m sorry but it’s the truth. google desktop was created so that people with a life, who do not sit there and create a million file directories for the purpose of “organization” can find any file and launch any program they wish, in a split second. that is its purpose and many, many people who use it will agree that it’s very helpful and useful.
alright…
February 10th, 2006 at 1:56 pm
ironic that a person who complains about ’spying’ urges us to use yahoo, which has helped the chinese regime persecute innocent journalists
February 10th, 2006 at 2:29 pm
February 10th, 2006 at 2:30 pm
another ass here ! just give google everything you have on your computer and let them sort it out!
February 10th, 2006 at 6:12 pm
I hate to say it, but thats a typical M$ windoze approach. Software should make you excited not live in fear.
There is an answer however, and that is linux
February 10th, 2006 at 10:48 pm
It doesn’t take long to organize your folders if you are doing it as files are created. I don’t know how people can just go saving stuff on their computers into random directories anyway (unless they were just stupid).
February 11th, 2006 at 4:05 pm
Yes, I definitely would like that. So google could domy tax reports, order me stuff I am missing (like a refrigerator with an espresso machine, the newes released dvds etc) and even go out with my girlfriend.
YES, please do, google!
February 11th, 2006 at 4:45 pm
There is a simple solution that Google can make available quickly to resolve this problem: Let the users define the encryption keys that google desktop would use to encrypt the data like RSA and ultimately opensource the encryption API so that neutral third parties like PGP or else could implement open encryption libraries that would not be controlled by Google.
That way, Google would effectively be unable to access to the user’s content, making subpeanas from the government to access the data virtually meaningless…