Google's new PC indexing tool, released last week in a beta test version, poses a prospective problem that’s jangling the nerves of a lot of people who tend public computers: privacy risks.
Privacy and security consultant Richard M. Smith of Massachusetts said the indexing tool is both a powerful way to find information on a computer and, "on the flip side of things, it's a perfect spy program." And he isn't exactly alone in that assessment.
Illinois cybercafe owner Herbert Jones of Herb's Cyber Café tried the tool and likes it – on his own computer. He won't put it in on his two public terminals and said he's written his own software to keep his customers from installing it or programs like it. "Otherwise," he told the Associated Press, "they can put on their own files if they want, a worm, a virus, anything, and you're shut down."
Users could unwittingly let people who follow them on public PCs see sensitive e-mail content like revealed passwords, conversations, or online purchase information in both e-mail and Web page content, the AP said.
Google Desktop Search records email you read through your Outlook, Outlook Express, or Internet Explorer browser and saves copies of pages you view through IE and, assuming you're the computer's only user, can operate for you as something like a photographic memory of what you've done and where you've been, according to Google consumer Web product director Marissa Mayer, who said that index is not shared with Google itself.
But Mayer also said she understood the privacy concerns, saying those who manage shared computers should think twice about putting in the program, at least until Google develops advanced password protection and multi-user support protection features for the tool.
Telltale signs? According to the AP, a multicolor swirl in the system tray on the lower right corner means the program is running, but you can right click on that to leave the program and stop it from recording surfing, email, or chat sessions.
