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Google Desktop Search Under Fire
AchilleCB writes "Cnn and many other sources are jumping on the Google-privacy-bash bandwagon, they are carrying stories warning of more privacy implications regarding Google's Desktop Search, "if it's installed on computers at libraries and Internet cafes, users could unwittingly allow people who follow them on the PCs, for example, to see sensitive information in e-mails they've exchanged. That could mean revealed passwords, conversations with doctors, or viewed Web pages detailing online purchases." ... Type in "hotmail.com" and you'll get copies, or stored caches, of messages that previous users have seen. Enter an e-mail address and you can read all the messages sent to and from that address. Type "password" and get password reminders that were sent back via e-mail."
Not if it is also caching the web pages you visited - including webmail.
RelevantElephants: A Somatic WebComic...
Wouldn't the windows search provide the exact same ability if it was enabled? I agree, google has just indexed the data and made it more easily searchable.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
Is that it is making obvious what CAN be done with software on the desktop, and it's freaking people out. It doesn't do anything a spyware package couldn't do, except it asks before doing it. There is no partitioning of data from one app to another logged in as a given user, and as such, it should be assumed that any app has access to anything, including passwords, etc. If people are allowed to install software on shared computers, then there is already a security issue.
On the flip side, we can't dismiss the problem with a "the problem is already there" as it is still a problem. The question is at what price are we willing to give up the convienience that our current user based computing model provides to one where every piece of data is locked down with encryption and passwords. And if we even did that, would it help, as everybody would just end up using the same passwords anyway. Beyond a certain point of security, the inconvience will prove more detrimental than what it provides to people and they will stop using computers at all.