From the Webmaster
Over the years we've had numerous visitors to the website ask us for information that is really not pertinent to Circle Sanctuary but very pertinent to website surfing in general. This page is intended as an FAQ of sorts on handling some of the topics that we get asked about which are not Circle-specific but Internet technology specific.

Question: Should I Install Google Desktop or Google Toolbar On My System?
Webmaster: Not If You Value Your Harddisk Privacy!!

Google Desktop
Google announced a new "feature" of its Google Desktop software that greatly increases the risk to consumer privacy. If a consumer chooses to use it, 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, to enable searching from any one of the user's computers. It is highly suggested that you do not use this feature because it will make your 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.

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. If you use the Search Across Computers feature and don't configure Google Desktop very carefully — and most people won't — 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 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.

Didn't see that coming, did you.

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. 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.

This Google product highlights a key privacy problem in the digital age. Many Internet innovations involve storing personal files on a service provider's computer, but under outdated laws, consumers who want to use these new technologies have to surrender their privacy rights.

Google Toolbar
With the advanced features enabled, Google's free toolbar for Explorer phones home with every page you surf, and yes, it reads your cookie too. Their privacy policy confesses this, but that's only because Alexa lost a class-action lawsuit when their toolbar did the same thing, and their privacy policy failed to explain this. Worse yet, Google's toolbar updates to new versions quietly, and without asking. This means that if you have the toolbar installed, Google essentially has complete access to your hard disk every time you connect to Google (which is many times a day). Most software vendors, and even Microsoft, ask if you'd like an updated version. But not Google. Any software that updates automatically presents a massive security risk. Read on brave warrior:

Click here to read about self-updating programs

Is that cutesie little toolbar worth having your entire system visible to anyone? We don't mess around here with conspiracy theories. All you have to do to verify the truth of these risks ... is head to www.google.com itself and use keywords like

google toolbar problem
google toolbar hack
google toolbar privacy
google toolbar crash
google toolbar invasion
For now, consider these Google utilities an invitation for digital rape: you are highly encouraged to safeguard the confidential files on your harddisk by not installing the Google Desktop or the Google Toolbar.

The Internet: where 'free, cute and neat' equates to 'invasive, irreversible and disasterous.'

breeze )O(
webmaster@circlesanctuary.org