Google Desktop 3 criticized

[geekerati]

A new feature in Google Desktop 3 that allows people to search for documents across multiple computers poses privacy risks and should not be used, a consumer digital rights nonprofit and a security company are warning.

Google released the latest version of its desktop search application on Wednesday. It includes an option that allows people who regularly use several computers to search for items stored on multiple computers simultaneously.

Once the Search Across Computers function is enabled, text copies of documents and Web history are automatically transferred to the other computer that has Google Desktop installed. When the user searches on one computer for information, the second computer is automatically searched.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation warned consumers that the government or litigious rivals could subpoena the search engine for the information stored on the Google servers before it is deleted, which Google said is within 30 days.

The threat is underscored by the recent Justice Department request to Google, Microsoft, Yahoo and America Online for random Web search records. Google was the only one of the companies to deny the request and challenge it in court.

"EFF urges consumers not to use this feature, because it will make their 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," the EFF said in a statement on its Web site on Thursday.

"Coming on the heels of serious consumer concern about government snooping into Google's search logs, it's shocking that Google expects its users to now trust it with the contents of their personal computers," EFF Staff Attorney Kevin Bankston wrote.

"For this feature to operate you need to use your Google account, the same one that you use for Gmail, Orkut and the other Google services. This means that if an attacker can obtain your Google login details, he will be able to access your confidential files," security firm Kaspersky Lab wrote in a blog on its Web site. "The good side is that this feature is an option and is not turned on by default. We advise you to keep it that way."

Read more
Google copies your harddrive
Read the article from the Electronic Frontier Foundation

[andrew247]

I recently uninstalled Google Desktop after hearing about this. It should make it clearer when installing that Google's about to copy your harddrive....all it said to me was, "install advanced features", which could cause privacy implications

[myotismon]

well, you clearly have not read the Google Desktop Preferences, as you can turn that feature off.
and to tell you the truth, i trust the google servers to be more secure then my computer. i dont care that my doccuments may be cached on the google servers.
Anything i really care about, one folder basically, i have encripted, and excluded from indexing.

[intelliot]

As myotismon said, there's a good chance Google's computers are more secure than ours. On the other hand, you don't have as much personal control (and therefore responsibility) over it. I like having the feature available because it could save some people a lot of time.

Don't cripple software because of privacy concerns. Let us do it if we want to; make it off by default. And according to the article, Google has done just that. I applaud them for it.

[geekerati]

intelliot wrote:
Don't cripple software because of privacy concerns. Let us do it if we want to; make it off by default. And according to the article, Google has done just that. I applaud them for it.

Agreed, let us decide if we want to turn this feature on or not. Google did the responsible thing for sure.