Oblivion Posted October 16, 2004 Share Posted October 16, 2004 Google's Desktop represents a privacy disaster just waiting to happen, a rival has warned. David Burns, Copernic CEO, says users should know that the giant ad broker intends to mix public and private queries in the future, leveraging its key moneyspinning product: contextual advertising. "If you lined people and said, 'Stick your hand up if you want Google to know what pictures you have, and what MP3 files you have,' I don't think many would." Burns had offered these capabilities to partners before, but received some pushback. "Major brands don't want to compromise their reputation. We've offered this in the past to potential partners, and had a major PC hardware company and major portals say 'No, we can't do this'", Burns told us. With the subpoena-happy RIAA getting support from state law enforcement in its war on copyright infringers, Google represents a single point of compromise for millions of file traders. Copernic offers a native Windows search application both as a free download and as a branded offering to partners, and has toyed with merging the two before. But it's realized personal archives are very different to Google's snapshot of the web - and the queries are different too. "I don't deny desktop and web on the same page is attractive," he added. "But we're not going to do it." Burns was former US chief of FAST, which created the All The Web search site before selling it to Overture. Yahoo! now owns both. Google Desktop Search allows users to opt out of sending the company back detailed usage data, but it isn't possible to firewall it completely. Much more ominously, reckons Burns, Google's product manager Marissa Mayer said she expected the private queries to generate more hits for google.com. Most people, she believed, would choose to combine personal and web searches resulting in more revenue for Google's ad business. "As a result, we will serve more Web results pages and more ads, and those ads have more chances of getting clicked on. So there will be incremental Web search revenue from this product," she told the Washington Post. In January, Eric Schmidt said the company's goal was to create a "Google that knows you". With the addition of personal information, it's just taken a giant step towards that goal. The Register Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Post-It Note Posted October 16, 2004 Share Posted October 16, 2004 I don't believe google is going to screw with us like that... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
webeagle12 Posted October 16, 2004 Share Posted October 16, 2004 yeah bu I dont trust somebody scaning my hard disk from internet u know :ninja: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kairon Posted October 16, 2004 Share Posted October 16, 2004 yeah bu I dont trust somebody scaning my hard disk from internet u know :ninja: 584747766[/snapback] Right, your so special and important I'm sure everyone is out looking for your personal information and trying to scan your harddisk. :whistle: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mojomonkee Posted October 16, 2004 Share Posted October 16, 2004 I don't believe google is going to screw with us like that... 584747734[/snapback] and why not? because google is everyone's favorite search engine? come on, take off your blinders. google is a company. a company that makes money. if they can make more money, they will. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mojomonkee Posted October 16, 2004 Share Posted October 16, 2004 Right, your so special and important I'm sure everyone is out looking for your personal information and trying to scan your harddisk. :whistle: 584747820[/snapback] i think that's the main argument here: no one is special and everyone is fair game. is google hiring people to go through your files individually to poke fun at the pictures of you losing your anal hymen to some chick with a strap on last week? hell no, but they sure as hell are looking to see what you have on your computer to see if they can target an ad towards you to make you buy that RealDoll or FleshLight you want oh so badly. i guess it's a matter of peace of mind... people want to think that at least their computer is a haven where they can keep people out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
epton Posted October 16, 2004 Share Posted October 16, 2004 yeah bu I dont trust somebody scaning my hard disk from internet u know :ninja: 584747766[/snapback] it's not scanning your HD from the internet. GD keeps the cache files on your HD. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Porp Posted October 16, 2004 Share Posted October 16, 2004 I don't really like this idea... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goatsniffer Posted October 16, 2004 Share Posted October 16, 2004 I can't believe that anyone would be so lazy to put their privacy and security in jeopardy just to save a few clicks to search google. Turn on indexing for windows search and it's fast enough. Learn some Visual Basic and make a google query if you can't stand to open your browser and search. If this thing does end up letting someone other than you see what you have on your computer then DRM makes another step into your home. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beardly Posted October 16, 2004 Share Posted October 16, 2004 I put this on my computer and it looks like it could be quite useful. I don't have a big need for it since I have my files organized quite well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cq_ Posted October 16, 2004 Share Posted October 16, 2004 i've installed it. i've used it. I turned off the https option, but it still requests to send out data to the interent. Of course, my firewall just blocks it. So nothing goes out to google... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danrarbc Posted October 16, 2004 Share Posted October 16, 2004 i've installed it. i've used it. I turned off the https option, but it still requests to send out data to the interent. Of course, my firewall just blocks it. So nothing goes out to google... 584748112[/snapback] Try turning off this option. "Send non-personal usage data and crash reports to Google" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IceDogg Posted October 16, 2004 Share Posted October 16, 2004 Seems like everything Google does comes under the same questions of privacy. I sure hope this is not true. But I really don't care since nothing is on my PC to worry about.. but I no longer have this installed anyway. Is google really a monster or just a lot of people paranoid? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boeing 787 Posted October 16, 2004 Share Posted October 16, 2004 Use Locate: http://fileforum.betanews.com/detail/1044509669/1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chode Posted October 17, 2004 Share Posted October 17, 2004 Isn't this the same baseless argument that was used to try scare people away from GMail? Sorry to burst your bubble, Mr Tinfoil-Helmet-Man, but it really is a load of hogs-wash. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goatsniffer Posted October 20, 2004 Share Posted October 20, 2004 This is very different. I could care less who reads my email. Maybe they'll be interested in the discount viagra. This is an important issue. Google has been known to put it's financial interests above it's customers. Remember the google toolbar controversy? It was known to monitor the types of sites you went to and gave that information out to google. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goatsniffer Posted October 20, 2004 Share Posted October 20, 2004 I don't have anything to hide on my computer. It's principle that I'm concerned with. If people readily accept this and it does allow some other party some kind of information on your computers files, then it will just open the door to more privacy violating programs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xxdesmus Posted October 20, 2004 Share Posted October 20, 2004 cause we all know how very reliable the Register is... :rolleyes: :pinch: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redestium Posted October 20, 2004 Share Posted October 20, 2004 I don't have anything to hide on my computer. It's principle that I'm concerned with. If people readily accept this and it does allow some other party some kind of information on your computers files, then it will just open the door to more privacy violating programs. 584771576[/snapback] Exactly, giving them an inch is a precedent, then they'll (all companies) take more and more as time goes on. I use Filehand and it's good enough along with Approcket. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
futb0l Posted October 20, 2004 Share Posted October 20, 2004 Google wouldnt screw us up - but hackers will. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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