Nick Erwin

Consumers Should Not Use New Google Desktop

 

San Francisco - 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. "If you use the Search Across Computers feature and don't configure Google Desktop very carefullyâand most people won'tâGoogle 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. 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 litigantsâyour spouse, your business partners or rivals, whoeverâcould 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 providersâmuch 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.

 

"This Google product highlights a key privacy problem in the digital age," said Cindy Cohn, EFF's Legal Director. "Many Internet innovations involve storing personal files on a service provider's computer, but under outdated laws, consumers who want to use these new technologies have to surrender their privacy rights. If Google wants consumers to trust it to store copies of personal computer files, emails, search histories and chat logs, and still 'not be evil,' it should stand with EFF and demand that Congress update the privacy laws to better reflect life in the wired world."

In a recent bad move from the developers of the Crap Cleaner (CCleaner) software they have started to bundle Yahoo! Toolbar. Many long time users, pc technicians, and even new users have been complaining about the recent addition of the Yahoo! Toolbar. With the inclusion of the toolbar the download size has more than doubled.
But this is not going without notice. Earlier today Softpedia revoked CCleaner's 100% Clean (No Spyware, No Adware, No Viruses) award. The Softpedia staff explain the reason for the removal of the award in clear red letters to warn users who may wish to download the software.

CCleaner now contains Yahoo! toolbar, therefore the award has been removed and the program marked as adware.

Perhaps the loss of the Softpedia award and the outcries of the users will help the developers of CCleaner to remove the toolbar and better listen to their users. Do you think the developers of CCleaner will listen? No. After taking over three months to solve a simple bug that was wiping out settings for MSN Messenger despite a solution being posted on their forums, the removal of the toolbar more than likely won't be a top priority on their list either.

Just want to share my new computer i just build.

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Specs

Case: Xion II Black ATX Mid-Tower Case with Clear Side

Motherboad: Gigabyte 8I915ME-GL Intel Socekt 775 MicroATX Motherboard

Processor: Intel P4 3.2GHZ 800fsb W/ HT

Memory: 1GB (2x512) Kingston PC2700 DDR 333Mhz Memory

Hard Drive: Western Digital / Caviar SE / 250GB / 7200 / 8MB / SATA-150 / Hard Drive

Cd/Dvd Burner:
Lite-on SHW-1635S / 16x8x16x DVD+RW / 16x6x16x DVD-RW / 8x DVD+R DL / 4x DVD-R DL / 48x24x48x CD-RW / Black/Biege Faceplates / Internal / DVD Writer with Software

Cooling System:

Fans: 2 120mm fans (one in front, one in back)
1 80mm fan (On the side)

Thermal Compound:
OCZ Ultra 5+ Silver

Heat Sink: Cooler Master / Hyper 48 / Socket 754/939/478/775 / Copper / Heatpipe / CPU Cooling Fan

Memory Cooler: Ultra Silver Aluminum Memory Cooler 2-Pack (DDR or SDRAM)

And of course,

WINDOWS XP PRO W/SP2

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I think Gmail is the best, ive now had it for about 2 years now i never had a problem with it and plus you get a plenty of stoage over 2.6 gigs!

Well for me, i like wireless but i would rather go with wired becasue its faster and dose not quit when you try to stream a online video or something.

Windows XP PRO is the best.