Users warned on Google privacy
Link: Users warned on Google privacy
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has warned that Google latest software release may be a serious threat to user privacy.
Google launched Google Desktop Search 3.0 this week, with an increased number of user features, such as data sharing.
While groups such as Gartner warned business against using Google Desktop when originally released, the US rights advocacy group the EFF is especially critical of the new features.
Privacy concerns are already an acute issue, and Search Engine Watch has already listed criticisms about the collection and use of data, not simply by Google, but also other major internet companies such as Yahoo! and Microsoft.
While there have already been privacy complaints about other Google services, these were recently intensified after it was revealed that the US government had sought data from all major search engines last year.
ISP’s such as Google can rightly point out that the more they know about users, the better they can target services to them.
However, the converse may also be true that the collection and data-mining of user behaviour has not seen progress in privacy protections, especially in line with the application of new technologies that make data sharing easier.
Google have assured users of their new Desktop Search service that data will only be stored on their servers for 30 days.
However, the issue of privacy protection online is becoming more and more of an issue. We’re likely to see a lot more on this story yet.
[…] We’ve even seen a taster in the form of Google Desktop, which sought to store home user files for 30 days - a prospect that caused privacy concerns in itself. […]
Pingback by Platinax News » GDrive gets cold reception — March 8, 2006 @ 7:28 pm