Contributed by Organizations or Campuses; Articles, Papers, and Reports; and Desktop Computing Management

Recent library resources tagged with Contributed by Organizations or Campuses; Articles, Papers, and Reports; and Desktop Computing Management.

Privacy Fears Hit Google Search

Added by the EDUCAUSE Librarian

Title:

Privacy Fears Hit Google Search (ID: CSD4415)

Origin:

Contributed by Organizations or Campuses (2006)

Type:

Articles, Papers, and Reports

Abstract:

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is warning users about what it says are privacy concerns with Google's new Desktop Search application. The tool indexes files from a computer, allowing users to search that content from other machines. According to the EFF, this process poses significant risks to personal privacy, particularly in light of recent government demands for access to usage logs from Google and other companies. EFF staff attorney Kevin Bankston said, "Unless you configure Google Desktop very carefully, and few people will, Google will have copies of...whatever...text-based documents the desktop software can index." If federal authorities obtain Google's records, he said, they would have access to all of those files.Officials from Google conceded that the new tool does represent a trade-off of some measure of privacy, but said such a compromise is one that many users will be willing to make. The company also said it would encrypt those files, would place strong limits on who can access the information, and would not store it for more than 30 days.

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