by hmm » Fri Feb 10, 2006 12:13 pm
FYI as this raises serious privacy concerns..<br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.eff.org/news/archives/2006_02.php#004400">www.eff.org/news/archives...php#004400</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br><br><!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr>February 09, 2006<br>Google Copies Your Hard Drive - Government Smiles in Anticipation<br><br>Consumers Should Not Use New Google Desktop<br><br>San Francisco - Google today announced a new "feature" of its Google Desktop software that greatly increases the risk to consumer privacy. If a consumer chooses to use it, <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>the new "Search Across Computers" feature will store copies of the user's Word documents, PDFs, spreadsheets and other text-based documents on Google's own servers</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END-->, to enable searching from any one of the user's computers. EFF urges consumers not to use this feature, because it will make their personal data more vulnerable to subpoenas from the government and possibly private litigants, while providing a convenient one-stop-shop for hackers who've obtained a user's Google password.<br><br>"Coming on the heels of serious consumer concern about government snooping into Google's search logs, it's shocking that Google expects its users to now trust it with the contents of their personal computers," said EFF Staff Attorney Kevin Bankston. <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>"Unless you configure Google Desktop very carefully, and few people will, Google will have copies of your tax returns, love letters, business records, financial and medical files, and whatever other text-based documents the Desktop software can index. The government could then demand these personal files with only a subpoena rather than the search warrant</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--> it would need to seize the same things from your home or business, and in many cases you wouldn't even be notified in time to challenge it. Other litigants—your spouse, your business partners or rivals, whoever—could also try to cut out the middleman (you) and subpoena Google for your files."<br><br><!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>The privacy problem arises because the Electronic Communication Privacy Act of 1986, or ECPA, gives only limited privacy protection to emails and other files that are stored with online service providers—much less privacy than the legal protections for the same information when it's on your computer at home.</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--> And even that lower level of legal protection could disappear if Google uses your data for marketing purposes. Google says it is not yet scanning the files it copies from your hard drive in order to serve targeted advertising, but it hasn't ruled out the possibility, and Google's current privacy policy appears to allow it.<hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--><br><br>now i am not a lawyer but if you combine this with the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act and the general disregard for privacy since 2001 it worries me<br><br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.askcalea.net/calea.html">www.askcalea.net/calea.html</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br><br><!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr>Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act of 1994 (CALEA)<br><br>In October 1994, Congress took action to protect public safety and national security by enacting CALEA. The law further defines the existing statutory obligation of telecommunications carriers to assist law enforcement in executing electronic surveillance pursuant to court order or other lawful authorization. CALEA is codified at 47 U.S.C. §§ 1001-1021.<br>~snip~<br>An Act<br><br>To amend title 18, United States Code, to make clear a telecommunications carrier's <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>duty to cooperate</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--> in the interception of communications <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>for law enforcement purposes, and for other purposes.</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--><br><br>Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,<br><br>TITLE I--INTERCEPTION OF DIGITAL <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>AND OTHER COMMUNICATIONS</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--><br><br>SEC. 101. SHORT TITLE.<br><br>This title may be cited as the `Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act'.<br><br>SEC. 102. DEFINITIONS.<br><br>For purposes of this title--<br><br>~snip~<br><br>6) The term `information services'--<br><br> (A) means the offering of a capability for generating, acquiring, storing, transforming, processing, retrieving, utilizing, or making available information via telecommunications; and<br><br> <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>(B) includes--<br><br> (i) a service that permits a customer to retrieve stored information from, or file information for storage in, information storage facilities;</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--><br> (ii) electronic publishing; and<br> (iii) electronic messaging services; but<br><br> (C) does not include any capability for a telecommunications carrier's internal management, control, or operation of its telecommunications network.<br><hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--> <p></p><i></i>
