Is anyone truly surprised about the potential for privacy invasion that Google Desktop opens up? In case you don’t know, it’s a tool that indexes every peice of digital information and textual content on your computer and makes it all really easy to find.

And with the lastest version, it stores much of the information it collects on Google servers. The potential for abuse, by Google or other parties, should be painfully obvious (they’re giving you a very sophisticated data mangement tool for free people–they’re monetizing something to justify doing this, and that something is incredibly deep knowledge about you).

Have some mushy love letters on your hard drive? How about last years tax return? Have you mentioned over email anything about a desease you think you might have and that an insurance company might deny you coverage because of? Well with Google Desktop, your life is very potentially an open book up for bid (or subpeona, or a friendly “please” from law enforcement or private security firm).

I may just be having an tinfoil hat moment here and there could be no real problem here what so ever. But when armies of Greeks as standing outside my gates with a snazzy new gift they’d just love me to have, I perfer to err on the side of caution and decline their generosity. Beware of Greeks baring gifts folks.

(for my Greek readers I’m talking about metaphorical Greeks–I love Greece, so when I come to visit, can I stay with you? I’m kidding–unless the answer is yes, and in that case I prefer Egyptian cotton sheets, threadcount isn’t important as long as its Egyptian.)

PS.
And on the topic of privacy, if any of you frequent Yahoo! Groups, do check out thier privacy policy with special attention to what they call Web Beacons (cookies on steriods). The real kicker is Yahoo’s user-hostile policy of not only forcing you to opt out, but forcing you to opt out on each browser you use (that’s right, they don’t store your opt-out decision in your profile). And of course the opt-out form is buried neck-deep in meaningless textual obfuscation (I wonder if this tactic shows up in the newly published design patterns?).