Google's New Desktop Search >> 3 Important Privacy Discoveries
 

Desktop Search does three things in particular that could compromise your privacy when someone else uses your computer:

First, the software keeps a copy of all your AOL Instant Messenger conversations. AIM, for many users, is like talking over the water cooler at work -- you say things you don't want preserved for posterity. Until now, AIM conversations with your buddies disappeared from your computer the moment you closed the discussion window. Desktop Search, however, makes a copy of AIM conversations and keeps them forever.

Second, the software keeps its own copy of all your Outlook and Outlook Express e-mail messages -- even after you delete them from within Outlook or Outlook Express. A confidential company memo, in other words, will still pop up during Google searches after you've emptied the Deleted Items folder in Outlook.

Third, the software keeps a copy of every Web page you visit and lists those pages in search results with the date and time of your visit. This even includes Web pages that are supposed to be secure from prying eyes, such as those run by online banking sites.

That means if someone else uses your PC and enters the word "bank" or "brokerage" in Desktop Search, they could uncover your confidential financial information. There are controls within Desktop Search to block each of these three search features, but it's not immediately obvious how to find them and many users will never bother to learn.

this should be on the news more, im starting to suspect the govt. purchased google

Wow, that is quite intrusive. I'm rather surprised about the webpage item in particular, especially if banks/brokerages have nocache in the http headers or you're visiting an https site, you would expect that those pages wouldn't be archived elsewhere.

WG

i knew there would more privacy issues then were first reported :1orglaugh who do they think they're bullshittin..

It should be noted that the data is all stored on your own computer, not over the internet. You might still find that intrusive, but personally it wouldn't bother me, and in fact it sounds rather useful.

If someone can access all my computer files, I've already been own3d. A few more AIM conversations or bank statements really wouldn't add much to the ownage. With a shared computer, of course, this would be one more privacy issue to worry about, like caches and histories and saved mail.

The e-mail copying mechanism will nail a lot of people who delete their e-mails and won't realize a copy of everything is still on their PC.

What's awful is that none of this is disclosed openly up front and it is being discovered after the fact.

Are people actually downloading and using that thing in the first place? lol. wow.. why?

Soon what people will do is keep a non writeable copy of their work environment. Then everyday write random 1's and 0's to the entire hard drive three times before installing their work environment.

Repeat daily or as paranoia requires.

ya man i never using that BUMP :warning

LOL ... not like the person will be logged in your bank info ...