Privacy Experts Advice Against Google Desktop 3
The Electronic Frontier Foundation, go-to guys for legal issues in Web 2.0, have recommended against using the latest version of Google Desktop. The EFF says that if you use the “search across computers” feature (which, don’t worry, is double-super opt-in), your data is placed on Google’s servers, which makes it available for subpoena by government organizations (normally, such an invasion would require a search warrant).
From their website:
Google today announced a new “feature” of its Google Desktop software that greatly increases the risk to consumer privacy. If a consumer chooses to use it, the new “Search Across Computers” feature will store copies of the user’s Word documents, PDFs, spreadsheets and other text-based documents on Google’s own servers, to enable searching from any one of the user’s computers. 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.
“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,” said EFF Staff 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, whoever—could also try to cut out the middleman (you) and subpoena Google for your files.”
The privacy problem arises because the Electronic Communication Privacy Act of 1986, or ECPA, gives only limited privacy protection to emails and other files that are stored with online service providers—much less privacy than the legal protections for the same information when it’s on your computer at home. 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.
While the EFF is right that Google’s latest features present new legal and privacy problems for users, you can see in the comments at Slashdot that there is a lot of FUD being spread around, since so many people do not understand the intricacies of the situation. Since it isn’t in the EFF’s interest to correct them, maybe Google could do a better job calming down users over these concerns? The Google blog moves too slow. If Scoble were a Googler, he’d already be on top of it.
“Since it isn’t in the EFF’s interest to correct them”
What do you mean? The EFF isn’t in the business of stirring up fear, but making apparent the potential threats of such technologies.
Comment by Michael Zimmer | February 10, 2006
which parts are FUD?
Comment by Hashim | February 10, 2006
At Slashdot? Mostly everything.
I’m assuming your question means I wasn’t clear: There’s a lot of FUD in the Slashdot comments, and I’m hearing that FUD on a lot of blogs as well. This stuff tends to spread, and people start to believe it.
Comment by Nathan Weinberg | February 10, 2006
Michael: The EFF is trying to make the case that with your data on Google’s servers, you are more at risk of that data getting out. They’re right, of course.
If some people are misunderstanding Desktop 3, and believe that the second they install the program all of their data goes straight to Google’s servers, it isn’t in the EFF’s best interest to correct them, it’s Google’s problem.
The EFF are great people, in my opinion, but they aren’t stupid. They won’t correct the misinformed paranoids out there.
Comment by Nathan Weinberg | February 10, 2006
[…] (Interestingly enough, Google is now also being criticized for not using its blog to respond quickly enough to misinformation that’s allegedly (but surely, almost certainly) being spread about the feature on sites like Slashdot. Good grief - and just like that, blogging is already over as a rapid response public relations tool). […]
Pingback by robhyndman.com | February 10, 2006
Given Google’s recent deal with Dell to put the Google Pack (and thus, Desktop Search) on Dell computers, my first question is “Will the Search Across Computers feature be enabled by default on the new Dells?”
Comment by Brandon Corfman | February 10, 2006
[…] Nathan already wrote about privacy issues with Google Desktop’s most recent version, and also about LapLink which lets you access Desktop Search on another machine from a web-based interface without leaving traced on any server, anywhere. […]
Pingback by » Google Desktop, A Warning To IT » InsideGoogle » part of the Blog News Channel | February 28, 2006
[…] To gather this information, it would mean giving up some privacy. With the recent uproar over privacy issues with Google Desktop Search, it certainly seems like that time won’t come anytime soon as people value their privacy to give up those freedoms. […]
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